Association Between Women with Endometriosis and Human Leukocyte Antigen‐C Genotyping

Study objective Endometriosis is a frequent benign gynecological disorder that affects 6%–10% of fertile women and causes severe pelvic pain, suffering, infertility, and hysterectomy. The etiology of endometriosis remains unclear and several evidence suggest cell‐mediated and humoral immunity are involved in its pathogenesis. HLA‐C antigen expression is low and only a minority of immunodominant cytotoxic CD8 + T cells response are restrict by HLA‐C. Moreover, HLA‐C has been regarded to act as a ligand for killer immunoglobulin receptors expressed in natural killer cells and inhibit NK cells. Previous studies have showed that HLA‐C affects viral infection and has been implicated in several human diseases. The aim of this study is to investigate the human leukocyte antigen‐C genotype in women with endometriosis. Method A total of 52 endometriosis and 47 non‐endometriosis women were diagnosed by laparoscopy and typed for the HLA‐C antigen. The total DNA were extracted from blood and analyzed HLA‐C alleles through sequence based typing methodology. Results The prevalence of HLA‐C*0304 in endometriosis group was 18.3% (19/104 alleles), compared with 6.4% in non‐endometriosis group (6/94 alleles). Thus, the prevalence of HLA‐C*0304 in endometriosis women was significantly higher than non‐endometriosis [OR 3.278, 95% CI=1.249 to 8.607, p= 0.0119 (χ2 analysis)]. Conclusion The result may be useful to implicate the role of HLA‐C antigens and NK cells in the pathogenesis of endometriosis.