Knee and/or hip joint destruction in rheumatoid arthritis is associated with HLA-DRB1*0405 in Japanese patients.

To determine the prognostic factors for knee and/or hip joint destruction in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, we typed 379 RA patients for HLA-DRB alleles and analysed the antigen frequencies. The DRB1*0405 antigen frequency in RA patients who underwent total knee replacement and/or total hip replacement was significantly higher than in those who did not have replacements, which meant that DRB1*0405 was associated with knee and/or hip joint destruction. This finding may be of value for predicting knee and/or hip joint destruction in RA.