[Rheumatoid arthritis and HLA system. A search for correlations between histocompatibility antigens and characteristic features of the disease].

Possible correlations between the HLA antigens A, B, C and DR and the clinical and biological features of rheumatoid arthritis were investigated in 74 patients with positive serology. The DR 4 antigen was present in 46 of these patients (62%), being apparently more frequent in those whose disease had begun before the age of 35 (p less than 0.05). DR 4 was also more common in pure rheumatoid arthritis than in forms associated with Gougerot-Sjogren's syndrome (p less than 0.05). No correlation could be found between the HLA phenotype and the other parameters studied, i.e. sex, corticosteroid therapy. Steinbrocker's radiological stages, plasma levels of rheumatoid factor and gammaglobulins and presence of antinuclear antibodies.