Rheumatoid arthritis and B lymphocyte alloantigen HLA-DRw4.

Forty Caucasian patients with classical or definite rheumatoid arthritis were tested for 7 HLA-DR alloantigens and 37 HLA-A, B, and C antigens and compared with 125 and 450 healthy controls, respectively. HLA-DRw4 was significantly (corrected p = 10(-3) increased in rheumatoid arthritis (55%) compared with controls (23%). There was no significant correlation between clinical, radiological or serological disease parameters and HLA-DRw4. The frequency of HLA-B8 was increased in the patient group; however, the corrected p value was not significant.