Does the shared epitope genotype influence either the susceptibility to orthe phenotype of corneal melting?

Purpose To investigate the role of the shared epitope alleles in determinin g susceptibility to and the phenotype of corneal melting in patients with r heumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods The HLA class 1 and 2 genotype was determined for 17 patients with rheumatoid-associated corneal melting by the phototyping method. HLA-DR4 su btyping was performed by PCR sequence-based typing. The frequency of all th e shared epitope alleles and, in particular, of the higher-risk *0401 and * 0404 alleles, was compared with healthy controls and unrelated RA patients, with and without extra-articular manifestations. A comparison was also mad e between the shared epitope genotype of the corneal melt patients and loca l, ocular disease characteristics. Results Thirteen (76%) patients with corneal melt possessed at least one sh ared epitope allele and 5 (29%) possessed two alleles. The dominant alleles were variants of the DR4 family, notably the *0401, *0404 and *0408 allele s. Both the allele frequency and a double dose of shared epitope alleles we re more common in the three RA patient groups than in the healthy, control group (p < 0.005). Although the frequency of the higher-risk alleles was si milar in the three RA patient group, a trend existed for a double dose of h igher-risk alleles to be more common in the patients with either corneal me lt or other extra-articular manifestations (p > 0.2). No association was fo und between the number or type of shared epitope alleles and any of the ocu lar disease characteristics studied. Conclusions The results of this study suggest that the shared epitope allel es do not influence the ocular disease phenotype of corneal melt in RA pati ents. Shared epitope determination of RA patients may help to identify thos e susceptible to either corneal melt or other extra-articular disease. RA p atients with a double dose of higher-risk alleles may have an increased ris k of corneal melt.