Analysis of TAP and HLA-DM polymorphism in thai rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease with a strong association with DR4 in many populations. In the Thai population, rheumatoid arthritis is associated with DRB1*0405. To evaluate the role of polymorphism in TAP and HLA-DM genes, which are important in antigen processing and presentation in predisposition to rheumatoid arthritis, 82 Thai patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 100 unrelated normal controls were studied. TAP and HLA-DM typing was performed by ARMS-PCR and PCR-SSO method, respectively. There was no difference in the distribution of TAP1, TAP2, DMA, and DMB genes between the patients and controls. This study suggested that TAP and HLA-DM genes do not confer susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis.