ANKYLOSING-SPONDYLITIS AND HETEROGENEITY OF HLA-B27 IN CHINESE

Objective. To examine the relationship between ankylosing spondylitis and heterogeneity of HLA-B-27 in Chinese. Patients and Methods. We sub typed HLA-B-27 in 76 patients with ankylosing spondylitis and 1 200 he althy Chinese of Han nationality. Polymerase chain reaction was design ed to amplify specific regions of class I (exon 2 and 3). Amplified se quences were tested with eight sequence-specific oligonucleotides to d istinguish all HLA-B-27 subtypes. Results. The HLA-B-27 was closely re lated to ankylosing spondylitis and at least four subtypes presented i n Chinese patients. B-2704 was the most common subtype, occurring in 5 4.8% and 50.85% respectively in HLA-B-27 positive ankylosing spondylit is patients and healthy controls. The main HLA-B-27 subtypes in the HL A-B-27 positive patients distributed in similar proportion to those of HLA-B-27 positive healthy controls (P<0.1). Conclusions. The prevalen ces of various subtypes of HLA-B-27 vary in different races. HLA-B-270 4 is the main subtype in Chinese Han nationality. The HLA-B-27 specifi c residues that are shared by the subtypes might be involved in the pa thogenesis of ankylosing spondylitis.