Our studies have identified three specific alleles, HLA-A*33:01, HLA-B*44:03, and HLA-DRB1*07:01, to be significantly increased in vitiligo patients as compared with controls in both the initial study on North Indians (N=1,404) and the replication study in Gujarat (N=355) cases, establishing their positive association with vitiligo.
By investigating a group of 39 unrelated adults suffering from vitiligo it was found that alleles HLA-DRB1*0701, -DQB1*0201, and -DPB1*1601 differed in their frequencies in comparison to those observed in the healthy population.