[Some aspects of pathogenesis of ankylosing spondylitis].

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory rheumatic disease of the spine (spondylitis) and sacroiliac joints (sacroileitis) associated in many cases with inflammatory affection of the peripheral joints (arthritis), entesises (entesitis), eyes (uveitis), intestine (enteritis) and aortic root (aortitis). AS is considered now as a prototype of diseases from the group of seronegative spondyloarthritis. AS is a hereditary disease. Predisposition to AS (90%) is associated with genetic factors the key gene of which is HLA-B27. As pathogenesis of AS is not still verified, three hypotheses are considered basing on HLA-B27 biology. The role of environmental factors involved in AS development (tension in enteses and infection) are discussed.