HLA DRB1* alleles in rheumatoid nodulosis: a comparative study with rheumatoid arthritis with and without nodules

Rheumatoid nodulosis (RN) is a rare condition associating rheumatoid nodules, episodes of arthritis, cystic bone lesions and, generally, positive rheumatoid factors (RF). It is considered a benign variant of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In this study, we determined the HLA DRB1^* alleles of our RN patients and compared the distribution of these alleles to those of 74 healthy controls and 104 RA patients with and without nodules. Four RN patients were observed. All had subcutaneous nodules and RF were negative in three patients. Of the 104 RA patients, 18 had nodules (nodRA). Systemic manifestation (including vasculitis, peripheral neuropathy or lung involvement) were found in seven of these nodRA cases (33.8%) and most had positive RF and erosive changes on X-rays. Only one RN patient had a RA-associated allele (DRB1^*0101). The frequencies of the HLA DRB1^* alleles encompassing the “rheumatoid” shared epitope were similar to those of other RA series: ^*0101, 34.6% (P=0.03 compared with controls); ^*0401, 26.9% (P<0.0001); ^*0404, 12.5% (P=0.04); ^*0405, 4.8% (P=0.8); ^*1001, 8.6% (P=0.5). Of the nodRA and seronegative RA patients, 77.7% and 53.3%, respectively, presented the shared epitope. Thus, there was a tendency to decreased expression of the RA-associated alleles in RN (25%) compared with nodRA and seronegative RA patients. This study is restricted by the small number of tested RN patients, but the results suggest that the RA-associated alleles are poorly expressed in RN. Received: 29 September 1997 / Accepted: 13 February 1998