Celiac disease (CeD) occurs only in individuals who are able to express human leukocyte antigens (HLA) DQ2 or DQ8, and these are expressed in nearly a third of healthy people in the West. As the disease is very uncommon in Tamil Nadu, we evaluated the possibility that the relevant genes are infrequent in this population. Four hundred healthy adults without any gastrointestinal abnormalities were recruited from Vellore district of Tamil Nadu. Genomic DNA was extracted from venous blood and amplified by PCR using the allele-specific primers for the following alleles—DQA1*0201, 0301, and 0501 and DQB1*02, 0201, and 0302, which determine the CeD risk haplotypes. Among the 400 healthy adults, the presence of DQ2.5 (DQB1*0201-DQA1*0501) and DQ2.2 (DQB1*02-DQA1*0201) haplotypes was found in 8.25% and 14.25%, respectively. DQ8 (DQB1*0302-DQA1*0301) haplotype was identified in only 3% of healthy individuals. Overall, approximately a quarter of healthy adults in Tamil Nadu had the potential CeD risk haplotypes of HLA DQ2.5, DQ2.2, and DQ8.
