| Objective To analyze the clinical features and laboratorial findings of multiple sclerosis (MS),and to examine the correlation between MS in Chinese Southern Han population and the polymorphism of HLA-DQB1 alleles.Methods The clinical data of 92 MS patients admitted to the department of neurology of the Jiangxi Provincial People's Hospital was collected. The epidemiological data, early symptoms and signs, clinical progressive mode, course, and the localization of lesions were analyzed retrospectively. The HLA-DQB1 alleles of 42 subjects from 92 MS patients and 48 normal controls were determined by sequencing-based typing(PCR-SBT)method.The frequency of the HLA-DQB1 alleles were compared between MS subtypes and clinical features and controls byχ2 or Fisher exact probability test. The P values were corrected according to Bonferroni's method to calculate corrected P values (Pc).Results(1)Clinical analysis:The ratio of male to female was 1:1.2 in 92 MS patients.The average onset age was 41.2 years.The clinical onset was acute in 16.30%, sub-acute in 42.39%,and chronic in 41.30% of the total patients.Sixty-one percent of patients with MS were relapsing and remitting type.The initial symptoms were weakness in 54.35%,abnormal sensation in 38.04%, visual disturbance in 26.09% of the total patients.The localization of lesions were cerebral in 68.48%, optic nerve in 47.83%,spinal cord in 38.04%, brain stem in 26.09%, cerebellum in 14.13%.The MRI data was available in 84 patients;of which 73.81% abnormal signals were found in cerebral and 38.10% were found in spinal cord.The positive rate of abnormal VEP was 67.69%, fifty-five percent patients had abnormal BAEP and sixty-seven percent patients had abnormal SEP.The OB was determined in 13 patients, but none of them were positive. (2) A total of 15 DQB1 alleles were identified in the MS patients and controls.The frequency of the DQB1*0502 allele was significantly higher in the MS patients(35.7%) than in the controls(8.3%) (P=0.0018,Pc=0.027, OR=429).In contrast, the frequency of the DQB1*0303 allele was lower in the MS patients(19%) than in the controls(39.6%)(P=0.04, OR=0.48),however, the difference was of no statistical significance since the corrected P values(PC) was>0.05.In addition,there was no correlation between the MS and HLA-DQB1*0601 or DQB1*0602(both P>0.1).(3)Association between clinical features and HLA-DQB1 alleles:The frequency of HLA-DQB1*0502(38.9%) is higher among RR-MS than controls(8.3%)(P=0.001, Pc=0,015).And the frequency of HLA-DQB1*0502(42.3%)also is higher among female MS than control(6.1%) (P=0.001,Pc=0,015).Conclusions (1)Precipitating factors are often detected in clinical course.The MS patients were characterized by acute or sub-acute onset, female prepondence and high relapsing rate.Weakness or sensory abnormal were the most frequent initiatial symptoms in most MS patients.Optic nerve is frequently involved.The cerebral white matter lesions were found in nearly half of the MS patients.Some sub-clinical lesions in the CNS may be discovered by EP or MRI.(2) The correlation between the HLA-DQB1 allelic polymorphism and MS in Southern Chinese is different from that in the Westerners and Japanese.The susceptibility of MS in Southern Han Chinese is associated with the HLA-DQB1*0502 allele, but not with the DQB1*0301 or DQB1*0602 alleles.(3)The relapsing-remitting MS may be linked to HLA-DQB1 *0502.Overrepresentation of DQB1*0502 in females is seen in our study.
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