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Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2026. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 7, 2026; 32(5): 115120
Published online Feb 7, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v32.i5.115120
Revisiting HLA-DQA1*05 in Asian inflammatory bowel disease cohorts: Ethnic variations in genetic susceptibility to immunogenicity
Chao-Qun Hu, Xiao-Mei Song, Yong-Sheng Teng, Hong Guo
Chao-Qun Hu, Xiao-Mei Song, Yong-Sheng Teng, Hong Guo, Department of Gastroenterology, Chongqing General Hospital, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401147, China
Author contributions: Hu CQ wrote the original draft; Song XM and Teng YS participated in the drafting of the manuscript; Guo H contributed to conceptualization, writing, reviewing, and editing the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by the Science and Health Joint Medical Research Program of Chongqing Municipality, No. 2024ZDXM009.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hong Guo, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, Chongqing General Hospital, Chongqing University, No. 118 Xingguang Avenue, Liangjiang New Area, Chongqing 401147, China. hguo_cgh2021@163.com
Received: October 9, 2025
Revised: November 24, 2025
Accepted: December 16, 2025
Published online: February 7, 2026
Processing time: 112 Days and 8.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: This letter builds upon Weng et al’s study in Taiwan that incorporated comparative evidence from Asia and Europe toward the investigation of racial disparities in human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-related immunogenicity of anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy. Although Weng et al did not identify an association between HLA-DQA1*05 and the development of anti-drug antibody against infliximab and adalimumab, other larger-scale studies across Chinese and European cohorts demonstrated a significant correlation between HLA-DQA1*05 and anti-drug antibody formation, particularly with infliximab, highlighting the genetic diversity within Asia. The novel alleles reported by Weng et al warrant further validation. Until further comprehensive, large-scale racial cohort data becomes available, clinicians should prioritize therapeutic drug monitoring and individualized treatment approaches. Furthermore, HLA allele screening for inflammatory bowel disease treatment decisions requires support from larger, genetically diverse cohort studies.