[Rhizomelic pseudopolyarthritis and Horton's disease. A search for correlations with HLA system, HB virus and Beta 2 microglobulin (author's transl)].

The authors studied 31 patients with either rhizomelic pseudopolyarthritis or Horton's disease. Contrary to others, they found no significant correlation between these diseases and hepatitis B virus infection or HLA gene. However, beta 2 microglobulin assays showed that it was significantly higher in these patients than in a control population. In the absence of close correlation between beta 2 microglobulin levels and those of inflammatory proteins, it is suggested that the rise in microglobulin reflected an immunological mechanism requiring further investigation.