Strong association of MuSK antibody-positive myasthenia gravis and HLA-DR14-DQ5

The authors studied the HLA profile of 23 white Dutch patients with muscle-specific kinase antibody-positive myasthenia gravis (MuSK Ab + MG) and found an association with HLA-DR14-DQ5 ( odds ratio 8.5; 95% CI 3.9 to 18.7; p = 4.9 x 10(-5)). Fifty-two percent of the patients carried the DR14 allele compared with 5% of the controls ( p = 1.0 x 10(-8)). This association between MuSK Ab + MG and a relatively rare HLA haplotype differs from the previously described association of early-onset acetylcholine receptor Ab + MG with HLA-B8-DR3.