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HLA-B2*7 linked to AS, sacroiliitis but not other spondyloarthropathies
Patients with ankylosing spondylitis were more likely to show positive tests for the HLA-B*27 gene than patients with other spondyloarthropies in a Brazilian cohort, according to recently published research.
Researchers studied patients with suspected spondyloarthropathies (SpAs) at a rheumatology outpatient clinic in Rio Preto between June 2007 and May 2010. Of 156 patients, 73 were confirmed to have spondyloarthritis using European Study Group Spondyloarthropathy (ESSG) criteria. Mean patient age was 48.7 years and 53 patients were male, but no differences in the distribution of the five types of SpAs identified were seen between the men and the women involved in the study.
In addition to other clinical tests and diagnosis, patients were tested for the presence or absence of HLA-B*27 by blood genotyping using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes.
The gene was seen in 30 men (56.6%) compared with five women (25%). Men with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) were more frequently HLA-B*27-positive (86.6 %) compared with women (60%), according to the researchers. In men, the risk factor for AS was calculated to an odds ratio (OR) of 10.8333.
Bilateral sacroiliitis in patients with AS was strongly associated with the presence of the gene (OR 5.294).
All of the six patients with enteropathic SpA and six of nine patients with undifferentiated SpA were negative for the HLA-B*27 gene. One of two patients with reactive SpA and two of nine patients with psoriatic SpA were HLA-B*27-positive, according to the researchers. - by Shirley Pulawski
Disclosure: The researchers report no relative financial disclosures.