The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Vol. 84, No. 1 328-335
Copyright © 1999 by The Endocrine Society
DRB1104 and DQ Alleles: Expression of 21-Hydroxylase Autoantibodies and Risk of Progression to Addisons Disease,1
Liping Yu,
Karl W. Brewer,
Sherman Gates,
Anya Wu,
Tianbao Wang,
Sunanda R. Babu,
Peter A. Gottlieb,
Brian M. Freed,
Janelle Noble,
Henry A. Erlich,
Marian J. Rewers and
George S. Eisenbarth
Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes (L.Y., K.W.B., T.W.,
S.R.B., P.A.G., M.J.R., G.S.E.) and Clinical Immunology and
Histocompatibility Laboratory (B.M.F.), University of Colorado, Denver,
Colorado 80262; Stratton Veterans Affairs Medical Center (S.G., A.W.),
Albany, New York 12208; and Roche Molecular Systems (H.A.E.),
Alameda, California 95401
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: George S. Eisenbarth, M.D., Ph.D., Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, 4200 East 9th Avenue, Box B140, Denver, Colorado 80262. E-mail:
george.eisenbarth{at}uchsc.edu
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Abstract
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Of 957 patients with type 1 diabetes without known Addisons disease
1.6% (n = 15) were positive for 21-hydroxylase autoantibodies.
Among DQ8/DQ2 heterozygous patients, the percentage expressing
21-hydroxylase autoantibodies was 5% (10 of 208) vs.
less than 0.5% of patients with neither DQ8 nor DQ2. Three of the
diabet-ic patients found to have 21-hydroxylase autoantibodies on
screen-ing were subsequently diagnosed with Addisons disease.
Overall, the genotype DQ8/DQ2, consisting of DRB1*0404/DQ8
with DRB1*0301/DQ2, was present in 14 of 21 patients with Addisons
disease (8 of 12 with diabetes and 6 of 9 without diabetes or antiislet
autoantibodies) vs. 0.7% of the general population (109
of 15,547; P < 10-6) and 11% of
patients with DM without Addisons disease (62 of 578;
P < 10-6). Among patients with
diabetes with DQ8, Addisons disease was strongly associated with the
specific DRB1 subtype, DRB1*0404 (8 of 9 patients from 8 families, in
contrast to only 109 of 408 DQ8 DM patients with diabetes without
Addisons disease having DRB1*0404; P < 0.001).
Among 21-hydroxylase autoantibody-positive DQ8 patients, 80% with
DRB1*0404 (12 of 15) had Addisons disease, in contrast to 1 of 10
autoantibody-positive patients with DRB1*0401 or DRB1*0402
(P < 0.001). We conclude that patients with
DRB1*0404 and 21-hydroxylase autoantibodies are at high risk for
Addisons disease. Patients with DRB1*0401 and DRB1*0402 have more
limited progression to Addisons disease despite the presence of
21-hydroxylase autoantibodies.
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Introduction
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THE COOCCURRENCE in the same
individual of multiple organ-specific autoimmune disorders is well
recognized (e.g. Addisons disease, type 1 diabetes
mellitus, Hashimotos thyroiditis, celiac disease, pernicious anemia,
vitiligo, Graves disease, and hypoparathyroidism) (1, 2, 3, 4). Autoimmune
polyendocrine syndrome (APS) disorders have two major disease patterns
(APS-I and APS-II), both of which are associated with Addisons
disease (5). The APS-I syndrome is determined by a recently identified
autosomal recessive gene on chromosome 21 and occurs independent of
class II human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles on chromosome 6 (1, 4, 6). In contrast, the APS-II syndrome and isolated Addisons disease
are strongly associated with HLA alleles. A number of studies link
APS-II to alleles of an extended HLA haplotype with A1, B8, DR3, DQ2
(1, 2, 7, 8, 9).
We observed a family with 3 siblings with Addisons disease. These 3
siblings all inherited a DRB110404 allele from their father, who was
heterozygous for DRB110404 and DRB110401. To further evaluate this
potential association, we studied all patients with Addisons disease
from whom we could obtain DNA through referral from colleagues, the
type 1 diabetes Human Biologic Data Interchange (HBDI) family
repository, and screening for expression of 21-hydroxylase
autoantibodies of patients with type 1 diabetes (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18). For many
organ-specific autoimmune disorders, autoantibodies appear years before
clinically recognized disease, and a series of relevant autoantigens
have been isolated and cloned during the past decade (16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23). With
the cloned DNA for these autoantigens, it is frequently possible to
develop specific and sensitive autoantibody radioassays (12, 24, 25, 26, 27).
Not all patients expressing autoantibodies progress to overt disease.
In particular, for type 1 diabetes, antiislet autoantibody-positive
individuals with specific HLA alleles (e.g. DQB110602)
infrequently progress to overt diabetes (28, 29, 30). Investigators
have recently cloned and developed a recombinant autoantibody
radioassay for autoantibodies reacting with the 21-hydroxylase enzyme
(10, 12, 16, 17, 24, 25, 26). To identify individuals with Addisons
disease and to evaluate individuals with antiadrenal autoantibodies
without Addisons disease, we screened 957 patients with type 1
diabetes mellitus for 21-hydroxylase autoantibodies. Fifteen patients
were positive and were studied. In addition, individuals with known
Addisons disease were similarly studied.
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Subjects and Methods
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Subjects
DNA samples for HLA typing were obtained from nine individuals
with known Addisons disease but not diabetic, nine individuals with
known Addisons disease and diabetes, and three individuals found to
have Addisons disease and diabetes after 21-hydroxylase autoantibody
screening (Fig. 1
).

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Figure 1. Summary of study participants. 21-OH,
21-Hydroxylase autoantibodies. HLA typing for HLA DQ alleles.
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The study population included 976 patients (Fig. 1
) and 241 normal
controls evaluated for the expression of 21-hydroxylase autoantibodies.
Of the 966 patients with diabetes, 9 had a known diagnosis of
Addisons disease. Ten individuals had Addisons disease without
diabetes. Of 957 screening serum samples of patients with type 1
diabetes (Fig. 1
) analyzed for 21-hydroxylase autoantibodies, 725 were
collected at the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes, and the
remaining 232 were provided by the HBDI Family Genetic Repository.
Samples were aliquoted and stored at -20 C. At the time of screening
the age of the 957 patients ranged from 0.771.2 yr (median, 16.6 yr).
Sera from 241 healthy control subjects (age range, 160 yr; median, 22
yr) without a family history of diabetes were also analyzed
for 21-hydroxylase autoantibodies.
Of the 15 (of 957) patients with type 1 diabetes found on screening to
have 21-hydroxylase autoantibodies (age range, 948 yr; median, 24
yr), we HLA-typed 14. In addition, approximately two thirds of the 942
patients (n = 666) with type 1 diabetes lacking 21-hydroxylase
autoantibodies were HLA typed. The HLA-typed group consisted of
sequential initial samples from families of the HBDI repository typed
by Dr. Erlichs laboratory as well as samples from the Barbara Davis
Center after the institution of routine HLA DQ typing with
determination of autoantibodies. Over the past 4 yr, the HBDI, in
collaboration with the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International, has
recruited families with 2 or more siblings with type 1 diabetes
mellitus from throughout the United States, and 578 patients with type
1 diabetes have been typed for HLA class II alleles. In addition, 9
patients with diabetes and known Addisons disease and 9 patients with
a known diagnosis of Addisons disease without diabetes were HLA typed
(Fig. 1
, left).
Of multiplex families with Addisons disease that we studied, one
family was from HBDI family studies, one was from the Barbara Davis
Center for Childhood Diabetes, one was from a prior family study at the
Joslin Diabetes Center, and one family with four affected members in
two generations was referred to us by Dr. Gates, Albany, NY.
A large general population control group (31) was also available for
analysis from the Diabetes Autoimmunity Study of the Young (DAISY)
study. The DAISY screened for HLA alleles in 15,547 individuals from
the general population. These newborns with cord blood were analyzed
for DR"3/4" (DQ2/DQ8) heterozygotes and analyzed for DRB1 subtypes
of the DR3/4 heterozygotes.
HLA typing was performed together with autoantibody studies after
obtaining informed consent and institutional review board approval from
the Joslin Diabetes Center and University of Colorado institutional
review boards.
21-Hydroxylase (P450c21) autoantibody radioassay
Autoantibodies against 21-hydroxylase (Hyd21AA) were measured by
a method previously described (12, 24), and the 21-hydroxylase
complementary DNA clone was provided by Dr. Ake Lernmark. In brief,
21-hydroxylase complementary DNA was transcribed and translated
in vitro with a commercially available kit (Promega Corp., Madison, WI). [35S]Methionine was
incorporated, and 20,000 cpm of the labeled product were incubated with
2 µL serum overnight, followed by separation of bound from free
radioactivity with protein A-Sepharose (Pharmacia Biotech,
Piscataway, NJ) in 96- well filtration plates (Millipore Corp., Bedford, MA). Scintillation fluid was added directly to
the 96-well plate for counting with a Top-Counter (Packard, Downers
Grove, IL). Autoantibodies are reported as an index relative to those
in a positive control sample. Positivity for anti-21-hydroxylase
autoantibodies was defined as exceeding the highest index of 241 normal
controls (an index >0.149).
HLA typing
HLA typing for HBDI and DAISY samples was performed in the
laboratory of Dr. H. Erlich at Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. (Alameda,
CA), using PCR amplification and oligonucleotide-specific probes
(32). Additional HLA DQ and DR typing was performed in the laboratory
of G. Eisenbarth and B. Freed at University of Colorado using
oligonucleotide-specific probes (DQ2 = DQA110501, DQB110201
and DQ8 = DQA110301, DQB110302).
Other assays
Anti-GAD65 (GAA), ICA512/IA-2 (ICA512AA), and insulin (IAA)
autoantibodies were determined with radioassays using recombinant
proteins, as previously described (33). The upper limits of normal for
GAA, ICA512AA, and IAA are index 0.032, index 0.071, and 42 nU/mL,
respectively. In the report from the latest Immunology of Diabetes
Workshop in Canberra, Australia, each of these assays (laboratory AR)
were among the most sensitive and specific assays. ACTH and cortisol
were measured by commercial laboratories.
Statistical analysis
Statistical analysis was performed using the
2
test and Fishers exact test with Epistat (Richardson, TX)
software, and Life Table
analysis with Prism software (Graph Pad
Software, San Diego, CA).
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Table 1. HLA type and expression of 21-hydroxylase and
anti-islet autoantibodies among patients with Addisons disease
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Results
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Of 957 serum samples from patients with type 1 diabetes
mellitus without a known diagnosis of Addisons disease, 15
individuals (1.6%) were positive for 21-hydroxylase autoantibodies
(Figs. 1
and 2
). Where multiple samples
from autoantibody-positive patients were available, patients remained
positive for these antibodies. Autoantibody levels of the positive
patients on screening all exceeded an index of 0.3 (none of 241
controls had an index >0.15). With the finding of 21-hydroxylase
autoantibodies, patients with type 1 diabetes were evaluated for
adrenal insufficiency. We determined fasting cortisol, ACTH, and
cortisol post-Cortrosyn (Organon Inc., West Orange, NJ)
stimulation. To date, 3 patients, including 2 brothers with type 1
diabetes, have been found to have adrenocortical insufficiency after
detection of 21-hydroxylase autoantibodies.

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Figure 2. 21-Hydroxylase autoantibodies of patients
with known Addisons disease, normal controls, and patients with type
1 diabetes mellitus. The 15 positive patients with type 1 diabetes
discovered to be 21-hydroxylase positive on screening are plotted on
the right, and where multiple different serum samples
are available for an individual, values for each individual are
connected by lines.
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HLA typing for alleles of DRB1, DQA1, and DQB1 loci were performed.
Each allele of these loci is given a unique number specifying a unique
amino acid sequence for each molecule. DRB110301 is almost always
associated with DQA110501, DQB110201, forming a haplotype. The HLA
genotype of an individual is comprised of two haplotypes. Patients with
known Addisons disease are combined in Table 1
with the above three
individuals who were found to have adrenocortical insufficiency. The
patients in Table 1
include 12 patients with type 1 diabetes and 10
without diabetes (including 1 patient we have not been able to HLA
type). All but 1 of the patients with Addisons disease and antibody
determination expressed 21-hydroxylase autoantibodies (19 of 20; for 2
patients there was no serum was available for antibody determination,
and most of these patients had Addisons disease over 10 yr). Three
fourths (15 of 21) of the HLA-typed patients with Addisons disease
were DR"3/4" (DQ2/DQ8) heterozygotes (Table 1
), and 14 of 15 of these had the
relatively uncommon DRB110404 DR4 allele.
Table 2
summarizes allele frequencies,
haplotype frequencies, and genotype frequencies of patients with
Addisons disease in comparison to normal controls and patients with
type 1 diabetes without Addisons disease. All of the patients with
Addisons disease expressed DQA110501, either on a DR3 haplotype with
DQA110501, DQB110201 (DQ2) or with DQA110501, DQB110301. DQ8 was not
significantly increased compared to patients with type 1 diabetes but
was increased compared to controls (Table 2
). All but 1 of the DR4
haplotypes of the patients with Addisons disease had the DRB110404
subtype (14 of 15 individuals in eight families). DRB110404 is greatly
enriched in the patients with Addisons disease in comparison to
patients with type 1 diabetes, in whom only 27% of DR4, DQ8 haplotypes
are DRB110404 (P < 10-6) (31).
HLA typing was performed for 7 families (Fig. 3
) in which patients, parents, and
unaffected siblings were available. In the 6 families (families 16)
with the haplotype DRB110404, DQ8 (including all of our known multiplex
Addisons families), 13 of 19 family members with the identical
genotype DRB110404, DQ8/DRB110301, DQ2 had Addisons disease. In
contrast, none of 28 family members without this genotype had
Addisons disease (P < 10-6). Family 2
(described in the introduction) has 7 members with type 1 diabetes and
3 members with Addisons disease. What is particularly striking
concerning family 2 with the 3 affected siblings is that the father is
homozygous for DR4, DQ8, but has DRB110404 on 1 haplotype and DRB110401
on the other. All 3 offspring who developed Addisons disease
inherited the DRB110404 allele, whereas both the DRB110401 and
DRB110404 haplotypes were transmitted to multiple children with type 1
diabetes. For family 3, none of the family members has type 1 diabetes,
and none of the family members expresses islet autoantibodies reacting
with GAD65, ICA512/IA-2, or insulin. All 4 of the family members with
Addisons disease express DRB110404, DQ8 with DQ2. In this family, the
DRB110404 bearing haplotype was introduced once, whereas the DR3, DQ2
haplotypes of the family consisted of 5 different haplotypes (a, c, d,
e, and h). Three of these DR3 haplotypes are found in the 4 members
with Addisons disease (haplotypes could be traced as indicated
because of HLA class I typing, which is not shown). In family 5, there
are 2 identical twins who also have the genotype DRB110404, DQ8/DQ2,
and only 1 twin has Addisons disease. The daughter of the twin
without Addisons disease (this twin is also negative for Hyd21AA)
with the DRB110404, DQ8/DQ2 genotype developed Addisons disease. In
family 6, the daughter who has the DRB110404, DQ8/DQ2 genotype, as did
her father with Addisons disease, is metabolically normal, but she
has a high level of Hyd21AA. Family 7 is the only family in which a
parent with a DR4 haplotype did not transmit the DR4 haplotype to the
child with Addisons disease. The DRB1 subtype of this haplotype was
DRB110403 and not DRB110404.

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Figure 3. HLA DQ and DR typing of seven families with
Addisons disease. DR and DQ alleles of haplotypes are indicated below
each figure, and their inheritance by specific family members is
indicated by letters. In some families, inheritance of specific
haplotypes is deduced from class I HLA typing, which is not shown. The
bold capital B is used throughout for the haplotype DRB1*0404,
DQ8 (DQA1*0301, DQB1*0302), and bold c for DQ2 (DQA1*0501, DQB1*0201).
In families with more than one DQ2, other letters also indicate DQ2
haplotype (families 3, 5, 6).
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Table 3
summarizes the transmission of
HLA alleles from parents to Addisonian children for the 7 families. All
of the affected individuals with a DR4 haplotype had the DRB110404
allele. The haplotype DRB110404, DQ8 was always transmitted (11 of 11)
to affected offspring (P < 0.001). For all of these
familial patients with Addisons disease and DRB110404, the DQ
haplotype of the other chromosome 6 was DQ2 (Table 1
).
Table 4
summarizes HLA class II typing
and autoantibody expression for patients with type 1 diabetes who were
found to have 21-hydroxylase autoantibodies but do not have a diagnosis
of Addisons disease. Similar to patients with Addisons disease, 8
of the 11 patients are DR"3/4" (DQ2/DQ8) heterozygotes. In contrast
to the patients with a diagnosis of Addisons disease, 9 of 11
non-Addisonian patients have DRB110401 or DRB110402. Two patients with
21-hydroxylase autoantibodies but not diagnosed with Addisons disease
are DR"3/4" heterozygotes with DQB110404. The father (now deceased)
of 1 of these 2 patients had Addisons disease. Twelve of 13
autoantibody-positive DR4 patients with Addisons disease lacked
DRB110401 and DRB110402 and had DRB110404 vs. 2 of 11 DR4
non-Addisonian patients with DRB110404 (P <
0.001).
With HLA DQ typing of approximately 700 individuals with type 1
diabetes who were screened for 21-hydroxylase autoantibodies, we can
estimate the percentage of patients with type 1 diabetes that express
21-hydroxylase autoantibodies with various DQ genotypes (Fig. 4
). As would be predicted from the
analysis of patients with Addisons disease (Table 3
), a high
prevalence of 21-hydroxylase autoantibodies was found among DR"3/4"
DQ8/DQ2 heterozygous patients, followed by patients with
DQA10501/DQB110301, and, finally, patients homozygous for DQ2.
Approximately 5% of patients with type 1 diabetes and the first 2
genotypes expressed 21-hydroxylase autoantibodies.

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Figure 4. Expression of 21-hydroxylase autoantibodies
by patients with type 1 diabetes subdivided by HLA DQ genotype. The
percent positive was adjusted for the autoantibody-negative type 1
patients not HLA typed (P < 0.01, DQ8/DQ2 and
DQA1*0501, DQB1*0301 vs. other; P <
0.05, DQ2/DQ2 vs. other).
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It is likely that not all patients expressing 21-hydroxylase
autoantibodies will progress to Addisons disease. To analyze
potential age differences in the association of DRB110404 with the
diagnosis of Addisons disease, Fig. 5
illustrates Life Table
analysis of the age at which Addisons disease
was diagnosed for all patients with 21-hydroxylase autoantibodies with
a DR4 allele. The Life Table
is divided between patients with only
DRB110404 vs. those with DRB110401 or DRB110402. Consistent
with the association of DRB110404 with Addisons disease, there is a
greater development of Addisons disease by attained age for patients
with DRB110404 (P < 0.01, by log rank test).

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Figure 5. Life Table analysis of age of diagnosis of
Addisons disease for all of the DR4-positive patients with
21-hydroxylase autoantibodies subdivided by DRB1 alleles. The
slashes represent the individuals at the current age
without a diagnosis of Addisons disease.
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Discussion
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Sixteen of 17 patients with known Addisons disease expressed
21-hydroxylase autoantibodies. Three additional patients with
Addisons disease were discovered after screening of patients with
type 1 diabetes for 21-hydroxylase autoantibodies. The previous
prospective follow-up studies showed that the serum autoantibodies to
21-hydroxylase were very stable before disease onset (10, 34). The
current study plus other recent studies (12) also showed that
21-hydroxylase autoantibodies could persist long after the overt
disease. It, therefore, documents the strong association of
21-hydroxylase autoantibodies with Addisons disease and the increased
prevalence of 21-hydroxylase autoantibodies among patients with type 1
diabetes (10, 35). Approximately 1.5% of patients with type 1 diabetes
without a known diagnosis of Addisons disease expressed
21-hydroxylase autoantibodies, and this is increased to approximately
5% for patients with the DQ2/DQ8 genotype. Prior studies of
21-hydroxylase autoantibodies suggest that given long term follow-up, a
subset of individuals with autoantibodies will progress to Addisons
disease (10, 34), and children with the autoantibodies had higher risk
for progressing to the disease than adults. The current study suggests
that DRB1 subtyping will aid in the prediction of progression.
There is essentially universal agreement that isolated Addisons
disease and Addisons disease as part of the APS-II syndrome are
strongly associated with the DR3 haplotype with DQ2 (DQA110501,
DQB110201) (1, 2, 7, 8, 9). A recent report has suggested that in contrast
to type 1 diabetes, Addisons disease is not associated with DQ8
(DQA110301, DQB110302) when individuals with type 1 diabetes are
excluded from analysis (36). Our study is not large enough to prove
that in the absence of diabetes, DRB110404, DQ8 is associated with
Addisons disease, but in the patients studied, we do not see an
apparent difference in the HLA haplotypes of patients with and without
type 1 diabetes mellitus (8 of 12 DRB110404 DQ8/DQ2 with diabetes
vs. 6 of 9 without diabetes vs. 11% of patients
with type 1 diabetes and 0.7% of the general population). As many as
50% of patients with Addisons disease as part of the APS-II syndrome
develop diabetes (37, 38, 39), and selection against diabetes may increase
the presence of haplotypes such as DQA110501, DQB110301, which are
relatively infrequent in patients with type 1 diabetes.
The current study evaluated patients with isolated Addisons disease
and APS-II patients (none with APS-I). For the families analyzed, the
DR4 haplotype DRB110404, DQ8 haplotype was always (n = 11)
transmitted from parents with this haplotype to patients with
Addisons disease. This included transmission to five patients without
type 1 diabetes (and without antiislet autoantibodies). This
transmission is markedly different from the expected 50% transmission
if the haplotype did not contribute to risk for Addisons disease
(P < 0.001). In the 6 families with a DR4 haplotype
that were HLA typed (including all multiplex Addisons disease
families available), 68% (13 of 19) of the family members with the
genotype DRB110404, DQ8/DRB110301, DQ2 had Addisons disease.
As part of the DAISY study we have typed cord blood from more than
15,000 general population newborns, and our distribution of HLA alleles
is consistent with studies of U.S. populations (31). The genotype
DRB110404, DQ8 with DRB1103 occurs in 0.7% of newborns in Colorado. In
addition, less than 15% of patients with type 1 diabetes are DQ8/DQ2
heterozygotes with the DRB110404 allele (31). In contrast, two thirds
of the patients with Addisons disease expressed this genotype.
The great majority (9 of 11) of 21-hydroxylase autoantibody-positive
diabetic patients who did not have Addisons disease expressed either
DRB110401 (7 of 11) or DRB110402 (2 of 11) vs. only 1
individual (of 15) among DR4 patients with Addisons disease who
expressed DRB10401 (or 0402) (P < 0.0002). This leads
to the hypothesis that progression to overt Addisons disease among
21-hydroxylase-positive patients may differ depending upon expression
of DRB110401 or DRB110402 vs. DRB110404. Protection or lack
of susceptibility with DRB110401- or DRB110402-containing haplotypes
with concomitant expression of 21-hydroxylase autoantibodies is not
absolute. One DQ8 patient (of 15) with Addisons disease had
DRB110401/DQ8. Further follow-up is necessary to ascertain whether
Addisons disease is delayed rather than prevented in the remaining
21-hydroxylase autoantibody-positive patients with DRB110401 or
DRB110402.
Differences between DRB1104 alleles appear to be critical for the
development of another autoimmune disease, rheumatoid arthritis
(40, 41). DRB110404 differs from DRB110401 and DRB110402 in only two
and three amino acids, respectively. Thus, one hypothesis is that the
unique amino acids of DRB110401 and DRB110402, by the peptides they
bind and/or their influence on the T cell repertoire, prevent
Addisons disease, or DRB110404 may increase the risk of Addisons
disease. An alternate hypothesis for the decreased prevalence of
Addisons disease with DRB110401 or DRB110402 compared to DRB110404 is
that the alleles DRB110404, DQ8 are in linkage dysequilibrium with an
additional "Addisonian" gene not usually present for haplotypes
with DRB110401 and DRB110402. Of note, the gene coding for
21-hydroxylase is within the major histocompatibility complex and
therefore linked to DR and DQ (42).
A high index of suspicion is warranted for autoimmune polyendocrine
syndrome disorders in patients with type 1 diabetes and with specific
DR and DQ genotypes, such as DRB110404, DQ8 with DQ2. Approximately 1
of 200 individuals in Colorado are born with the genotype DRB110404,
DQ8/DQ2, which is present in more than half of the patients we studied
with Addisons disease. With a reported prevalence of Addisons
disease of approximately 1 in 20,000 (43), approximately 1 in 200 of
such DRB110404, DQ8/DRB110301,DQ2 individuals are likely to develop
Addisons disease, a 100-fold enrichment. Our data suggest that DRB1
typing will aid in the prediction of Addisons disease among patients
with 21-hydroxylase autoantibodies.
Addisons disease is readily diagnosed and readily treated when
diagnosed (5). Nevertheless, the disease can be fatal and has been
occasionally diagnosed at autopsy. If genetic screening for a series of
preventable disorders is implemented in the future, screening for
Addisons disease is a candidate for a component of such programs.
Further prospective studies are needed to define the utility and
drawbacks of such screening.
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Acknowledgments
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These studies would not have been possible without the
Human Biological Data Interchange (HBDI).
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Footnotes
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1 This work was supported by grants from the NIH (DK-32083 and
DK-32493), the American Diabetes Association, and the Childrens
Diabetes Foundation. 
Received July 31, 1998.
Revised October 7, 1998.
Accepted October 12, 1998.
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