Excitement—and Confusion—about HLA and Rheumatoid Arthritis
Authors: Edward D. Harris Jr.
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (1995)

Editorials1 August 1995Excitement—and Confusion—about HLA and Rheumatoid ArthritisEdward D. Harris Jr., MDEdward D. Harris Jr., MDStanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA 94304-1808Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-123-3-199508010-00012 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail Rheumatoid arthritis has successfully resisted the efforts of many investigators to find a specific cause of the disease or a single genetic basis for risk. Vigorous debate continues about whether a retrovirus from the environment, an autoantigen from a patient's connective tissues or plasma, or a cross-reactive immune response between host tissues and a superantigen (for example, bacterial heat shock proteins) triggers this disease. Except for a person's recognized high risk for developing rheumatoid arthritis when she or he has an identical twin with the disease [1], there was little evidence for a genetic predisposition until Astorga and Williams [2] ...References1. Silman AJ, MacGregor AJ, Thomson W, Holligan S, Carthy D, Farhan A, et al. Twin concordance rates for rheumatoid arthritis: results from a nationwide study. Br J Rheumatol. 1993; 32:903-7. Google Scholar2. Astorga GP, Williams RC Jr. Altered reactivity in mixed lymphocyte culture of lymphocytes from patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Rheum. 1969; 12:547-54. Google Scholar3. Stastny P. Mixed lymphocyte cultures in rheumatoid arthritis. J Clin Invest. 1976; 57:1148-57. Google Scholar4. McDaniel DO, Alarcon GS, Pratt PW, Reveille JD. Most African-American patients with rheumatoid arthritis do not have the rheumatoid antigenic determinant (epitope). Ann Intern Med. 1995; 123:181-7. Google Scholar5. Willkens RF, Nepom GT, Marks CR, Nettles JW, Nepon BS. Association of HLA-Dw16 with rheumatoid arthritis in Yakima Indians. Further evidence for the shared epitope hypothesis. Arthritis Rheum. 1991; 34:43-7. Google Scholar6. Nepom GT, Nepom BS. Prediction of susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis by human leukocyte antigen genotyping. Rheum Dis Clin North Am. 1992; 18:785-92. Google Scholar7. Weyand CM, McCarthy TG, Goronzy JJ. Correlation between disease phenotype and genetic heterogeneity in rheumatoid arthritis. J Clin Invest. 1995; (In press). Google Scholar8. Larsen BA, Alderdice CA, Hawkins D, Martin JR, Mitchell DM, Sheridan DP. Protective HLA-DR phenotypes in rheumatoid arthritis. J Rheumatol. 1989; 16:455-8. Google Scholar9. Yelamos J, Garcia-Lozano JR, Moreno I, Aguilera I, Gonzalez MF, Garcia A, et al. Association of HLA-DR4-Dw15 (DRB1*0405) and DR10 with rheumatoid arthritis in a Spanish population. Arthritis Rheum. 1993; 36:811-4. Google Scholar10. Salvarani C, Macchioni P, Mantovani W, Rossi F, Veneziani M, Boiardi L, et al. Extraarticular manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis and HLA antigens in northern Italy. J Rheumatol. 1992; 19:242-6. Google Scholar11. MacGregor AJ, Riste LK, Hazes JM, Silman AJ. Low prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis in black-Caribbeans compared with whites in inner city Manchester. Ann Rheum Dis. 1994; 53:293-7. Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAuthors: Edward D. Harris Jr., MDAffiliations: Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA 94304-1808Corresponding Author: Edward D. Harris Jr., MD, Stanford University School of Medicine, 1000 Welch Road, Suite 203, Palo Alto, CA 94304-1808. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoMost African-American Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis Do Not Have the Rheumatoid Antigenic Determinant (Epitope) D. Olga McDaniel , Graciela S. Alarcon , Parks W. Pratt , and John D. Reveille Metrics Cited byOcular DiseaseHLA class II alleles: susceptibility or resistance to cystic echinococcosis in Yemeni patientsDifferenzialdiagnostik des rheumatoiden GranulomsPathogenesis of neutropenia in large granular lymphocyte leukemia and Felty syndromeClonal characteristics of T cell infiltrates in skin and synovium of patients with psoriatic arthritisDevelopment of rheumatoid arthritis after treatment of large granular lymphocyte leukemia with deoxycoformycin 1 August 1995Volume 123, Issue 3Page: 232-233KeywordsAllelesAntigensHaplotypesHuman leukocyte antigenPopulation statisticsRelative riskRheumatoid arthritisRisk ratioT cell receptorsT cells ePublished: 15 August 2000 Issue Published: 1 August 1995 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 1995 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...