Genomewide association analysis showed that SNP rs2844573, located between the HLA-B and MICA loci, was significantly associated with the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome among patients with leprosy (odds ratio, 6.18; P=3.84×10(-13)).
The aim of this case-control study was to assess whether the MICA alleles influence susceptibility for leprosy or affect the subtype of the disease in a population of southern Brazil.
The MICA*5A5.1 allele, associated here with leprosy susceptibility, encodes a protein lacking a cytoplasmic tail providing a possible mechanism for defective immune surveillance against mycobacteria.