Self-reported health history from 70,724 individuals reveals novel HLA associations with allergy and other frequently underreported conditions

Abstract

BackgroundVariation in the HLA loci, located on human chromosome 6p, has been associated with hundreds of diseases and conditions. However, high levels of polymorphism that characterize the HLA system, coupled with generally modest effect sizes for most phenotypes, necessitate relatively large sample sizes to power association studies; meanwhile, high resolution HLA genotyping remains relatively resource intensive. These constraints limit identification of novel associations. While phenome-wide association studies (PheWAS) in the context of large registries with available electronic health records (EHR) have revealed new insights into the role of HLA in disease, many common health conditions are poorly represented in EHR due to the temporal nature of their occurrence or general underreporting. Further, these studies have generally been conducted with HLA genotyping data imputed from microarrays, rather than direct measurement of high-resolution genotypes. ObjectiveTo overcome these limitations and reveal novel HLA associations we undertook a PheWAS in many previously understudied health conditions. MethodsWe queried over 300 hundred conditions, diseases and traits from 70,724 subjects registered with NMDP with available high-resolution HLA genotyping (HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-C, HLA-DRB1, and HLA-DQB1). After stratifying according to ancestry, we performed a logistic regression analysis adjusting for sex and age for HLA-phenotype association. ResultsWe identified 48 significant HLA associations across ancestry groups, confirming several known associations and uncovered fifteen novel associations. Most novel associations pertained to common infectious or allergic phenotypes that often go under-reported in the EHR. Of particular translational importance, we identified a previously undetected yet very strong association between HLA-DRB1*04:01 and sensitivity to cefaclor, a specific class of cephalosporin (OR = 3.74, p-value 5.10E-28). Molecular docking simulations predict cefaclor binding in the P4 pocket of HLA-DRB1*04:01, with substantially greater affinity than non-associated antibiotics, including other cephalosporins. This pharmacogenomic signal highlights an opportunity for risk stratification and targeted prevention of adverse drug reactions. Other novel associations found, such as susceptibility to genital warts (HPV) and allergic rhinitis, reveals new insights into the role of specific HLA alleles in immune-mediated disease. The vast majority of these novel associations were replicated in the independent All of Us cohort, confirming the validity of this approach. ConclusionCollectively, our findings demonstrate the value of integrating population-scale, high-resolution HLA genotypes with phenotyping beyond the EHR to reveal immunogenetic influences on common health outcomes. They also point to immediate translational avenues - particularly for drug hypersensitivity - while motivating future functional studies and prospective clinical validation to refine mechanistic understanding and clinical utility.