Abstract： Objective To study the human leukocyte antigen(HLA)genes to genetic predisposition in diffuse panbronchiolitis(DPB). Methods Twenty-four patients with DPB were studied and the characteristics before and after treatment with erythromyein were described.HLA-A,HLA-B,and HLA-DR loci were analyzed using an oligonucleotide microarray in both DPB patients and 53 normal control subjects.Disease association was assessed by the chi-square test.P＜0.05 was considered significant.Results The frequency of HLA-A2 in DPB patients[20.83%(5/24)]was significantly decreased(X2=13.52,P＜0.01)compared to the controls[66.04%(35/53)].The frequency of HLA-A2 showed a negative association with the disease(OR=0.12).Furthermore,the frequency of HLA-A11 in DPB Datients [58.33%(14/24)]was significantly increased(X2=7.27,P＜0.01)compared to the controls[26.42%(14/53)].The frequency of HLA-A11 showed a positive association with the disease(OR=3.9).However,the frequencies of HLA-B loci including HLA-B54,HLA-B55 and HLA-B56 were higher[12.5%(3/24),16.67%(4/24),8.33%(2/24),respectively]than the controls[5.66%(3/53),3.78%(2/53),3.78%(2/53),respectively],but no single HLA-B allele showed a significant contribution (X2=1.08,3.82,0.70,respectively all P＞0.05).There was no genetic susceptibilitv in HLA-B loci. In addition,the frequency of HLA-DRB5*010/020 in DPB patients[37.5%(9/24)]was significantly increased(X2=3.88,P＜0.05)compared to the controls[16.98%(9/53)],but a bias caused by the small sample size could not be excluded.Conclusions The candidate genes responsible for the disease susceptibility of DPB is located within HLA class Ⅰ region between A and B loci.HLA-A2 may be a genetic factor for the relatively low incidence of DPB in the Chinese population.