HEAT-SHOCK-PROTEIN-70 GENE POLYMORPHISMS IN RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS

A role for heat shock proteins (hsp) in rheumatoid arthritis has been suggested. In addition, the specific binding of human HSP70 protein to QKRAA and RRRAA motifs within the HV3 region of disease-associated DR B10401 and DRB1*1001 molecules, respectively, has been proposed as be ing relevant to rheumatoid arthritis. The purpose of this work was to analyze the influence of HSP70 gene polymorphism on the susceptibility to or severity of rheumatoid arthritis and to investigate the possibl e contribution of these HSP70 polymorphisms in determining HLA-DRB104 01/1001 disease association. The frequencies of the HSP70-1, HSP70-2 and HSP70-hom genotypes were analyzed by PCR-RFLP using Bs,BI, PstI an d NcoI enzymes, respectively, in patients with rheumatoid arthritis an d in healthy controls. No significant differences were observed when H SP70 allele distribution between the groups under study were compared. Moreover: we did not observe any significant difference in HSP70 alle le frequencies between patients positive for HLA-DRB10401/*1001 allel es and matched controls. Our data indicate that HSP70 gene polymorphis ms do not appear to be relevant in the susceptibility to or severity o f rheumatoid arthritis.