Abstract: Objective To analyze the relationship between HLA- DQA1 and HLA-DQB1 gene polymorphism and intracranial artery stenosis in patients with ischemic stroke. Methods Fifteen ischemic stroke patients with concurrent severe intracranial artery stenosis, 49 ischemic stroke patients without stenosis and 52 healthy control subjects from Tianjin were investigated for HLA-DQA1 and HLA-DQB1 polymorphisms by polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primers (PCR-SSP). Results Compared with the stroke patients without intracranial artery stenosis and the healthy controls, the stroke patients with artery stenosis showed significantly increased frequency of DQA1 *0501 and DQB1 *0501 alleles (P<0.05). Compared with the other 2 groups, the frequencies of DQA1 *0301 and DQB1 *0301 alleles in the stroke patients without intracranial artery stenosis were significantly increased (P<0.05). Conclusion HLA-DQA1 *0501 and HLA-DQB1*0501 alleles predispose to the genetic susceptibility of ischemic stroke with intracranial artery stenosis, and DQA1 *0301 and DQB1 *0301 alleles are associated with the susceptibility to ischemic cerebrovascular diseases.