Genetic basis for rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common disabling disorder of unknown etiology. In the past 2 decades, a number of studies have examined the genetic basis for RA. One major focus of these studies has been to identify genes within the MHC class II (HLA-DR) chromosomal region, which confer susceptibility/resistance to RA. A strong association between HLA-DR4 and adult seropositive RA has been observed in majority of populations. In addition, there is evidence of a positive association between HLA-DR1 and RA. On the basis of prevalence of DR1 (B1*0101) and of subtypes of DR4 (B1*0401, B1*0404 and B1*0405), it has been suggested that a five amino acid sequence motif (QKRAA/QRRAA) from position 70 to 74 in the third hypervariable region of DRβ1 molecules is associated with susceptibility to RA. These associations between RA and HLA-DR genes are however incomplete in that about 1/4 of patients do not carry RA-susceptibility DRB1 epitope. Since MHC class III region contains genes that are involved in immune response, we have recently examined the role of a number of microsatellites (D6S273, Bat2, TNFa) and HSP70 promoter region alleles in susceptibility to RA. The results demonstrate that two regions in MHC, class II (DRβ1) and class III (D6S273, HSP70, Bat2, TNFa) more completely define the risk for development of RA.