HLA-B and Beta-thalassemia: We included in the comparisons between the two groups of patients (A and S) the factors that were statistically significant in the univariate analysis (PU< 0.05): concomitant autoimmune diseases, beta-thalassemia trait, HLA-G 3’ UTR 14bp Del/Del, the KIR-ligand combination KIR2DS2/HLA-C C1+, the Neanderthal LZTFL1 polymorphism and the three loci HLA haplotype HLA-B*58:01, C*07:01, DRB1*03:01.