Influence of the HLA-DRB1 locus on susceptibility and severity in rheumatoid arthritis

We examined HLA-DR genotype risk in 288 patients with rheumatoid arthritiswho were carefully categorized for disease severity. Five hundredethnically-matched bone-marrow donors were controls. A hierarchy ofpositive allelic associations was noted with DRB1*0401 (p < 10(-38),*0404,8 (p < 10(-43), *0405 (p < 10(-8), *10 (p < 10(-3) and*0101,2 (p < 10(-2), while DRB1*0403 was negatively associated (p =0.02). The DRB1 genotype relative risks (and 95% CIs) for RA were:*0404,5,8/*0404,5,8 = 36.2 (15-87), *0401/*0404,5,8 = 31.3 (18-55),*401/*0401 = 18.8 (11-35), *0101,2/*0404,5,8 = 6.0 (2-14), *0101,2/*0401 =6.4 (3-12), *0101,2/*0101,2 = 1.3 (0.3-6), *10/*0404,5,8 = 27.8 (5-148),*10/*0401 = 20.8 (5-89), *10/*0101,2 = 22.3 (5-96), *0404,5,8/DRX = 5.0(3-8), *0401/DRX = 4.7 (3-7), *0101,2/DRX = 2.3 (1.4-4), *10/DRX = 3.4(0.8-14). No significant correlation of DRB1 genotypes was found withseverity of RA as judged by nodules or articular erosions.