Study of association between HLA-DR4 and DR53 and autoantibody detection in rheumatoid arthritis.

The present study explored the association between human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DR4, DR53, and auto antibodies in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and its clinical significance. A total of 305 patients with RA and 50 healthy subjects who underwent medical examination were evaluated. HLA-DR4 and HLA-DR53 and auto antibodies were detected. The results showed that frequencies of HLA-DR4 and HLA-DR53 alleles in RA patients were 42.95% and 54.75%, respectively, which were significantly different from those in control group (p < 0.01). Frequencies of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (CCP), anti-RA33, anti-keratin antibody (AKA), and anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) in RA patients (n = 305) were 72.13%, 36.39%, 44.92%, and 60.98%, respectively. Results of rheumatoid factor (RF) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were 148.29 ± 391.01 IU/mL and 18.14 ± 26.87 mg/L, respectively, which were significantly different from those in control group (p < 0.01, t-test). The results indicated that the HLA- DR4 gene was clearly associated with susceptibility of RA. Combined detection of related auto antibodies might improve diagnosis rate of RA significantly, and the positive rate was higher than that for a single antibody.