BackgroundAutoimmune diseases and schizophrenia share many common features. Association studies confirm a shared genetic association in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region between schizophrenia and most autoimmune diseases. To our knowledge, the simultaneous syndromes of Graves’ disease (GD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) in schizophrenia are rare in Tunisia.Case presentationWe report a case of a 42-year-old woman admitted to the department of psychiatry for an acute relapse of chronic schizophrenia. Her medical history revealed that she was followed for Graves’ disease and for a type 2 diabetes mellitus. A low-resolution HLA typing was performed by polymerase chain reaction sequence-specific primer (PCR-SSP) techniques according to determine the patient’s haplotype.ConclusionsOur study suggests that the HLA DRB1*03 allele may explain a common etiology underlying the co-morbidity of Graves’ disease, type 2 diabetes, and schizophrenia in our patient.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVESThe hypothesis that human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) confer susceptibility to schizophrenic disorders has been tested by studying linkage and association in family samples. Our goal was to evaluate the role of HLA in the risk of developing schizophrenia in a Tunisian population.DESIGN AND SETTINGSBlood samples for this case-control study were collected from patients of the Department of Psychiatry at the Military Hospital of Tunisia between July 2012 and May 2013.METHODSA total of 140 patients with schizophrenia were recruited for genetic analysis. Controls included 100 persons matched for age, sex, and risk factors. Participants were tested for HLA class II alleles. HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 alleles were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction sequence-specific primers.RESULTSThis study indicates that the alleles most responsible for disease susceptibility are DRB1*03 (P<10−3) and DQB1*02 (P<10−3) (P denotes probability values). The most protective alleles are DRB1*13 (P=.013) and DQB1*05 (P<10−3). Further results revealed that DRB1*0301/DQB1*0201(P<10−3), DRB1*0401/DQB1*0301 (P<10−3) and DRB1*1101/DQB1*0301 (P<10−3) are haplotypes most conducive to disease susceptibility.CONCLUSIONThe present findings support an association between schizophrenia and the HLA-DR-DQ locus among a Tunisian population. To our knowledge, this is the first study performed to analyze the association of HLA DRB1/DQB1 alleles on schizophrenia susceptibility in Tunisia.
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