Clinical, serological and immunogenetic features of Japanese anti-Ro/SS-A-positive patients with annular erythema.

Sixteen anti-Ro/SS-A-positive patients with recurrent annular erythema, which has recently been recognized as a unique cutaneous manifestation of Sjögren's syndrome, were studied. Eight of the 16 patients met the American Rheumatism Association criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus. Fifteen patients had anti-La/SS-B antibodies. Antibodies against U1RNP were detected in 2 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, 1 with anti-Sm antibodies. Patterns of autoimmune response to Ro/SS-A antigens were variable by immunoblot analysis. HLA typing by the standard complement-dependent microcytotoxicity assay revealed that all the 16 patients were positive for HLA-DRw52 antigens but negative for either HLA-B8 or HLA-DR3 which is reportedly associated with the autoimmune response to Ro/SS-A antigens in white and black patients.