HLA-DQA1*05 Carriage is Associated with treatment failure and the induction of anti-IFX antibodies in IBD patients

Abstract Repeated injections of anti-TNF may induce immunogenicity and loss of response to treatment in IBD (inflammatory bowel disease). An increased risk of immunogenicity in patients with the HLA-DQA1*05 phenotype has been already described. Here we selected 36 patients with IBD and follow the induction of anti-drug antibody according to their HLA phenotyping to individualize patients carrying one or two HLA-DQA1*05 alleles. In our study, IFX (infliximab, anti-TNF) treatment failure was significantly associated with HLA-DQA1*05 status in patient’s survival analysis. However, we show the absence of a clear association between HLA-DQA1*05 and the induction of anti-drug antibody. Our results confirm the importance of HLA-DQ1*05 testing before anti-TNF treatment for a personalized medicine.