HLA class I and class II are both associated with the genetic predisposition to primary Sjogren syndrome

Primary Sjogren syndrome (pSS) is an autoimmune disease characterized by pr ogressive destruction of the exocrine glands leading to mucosal and conjonc tival dryness, it is marked bp lymphocytic infiltration of the glands and t he accumulation of several types of autoantibodies such as rheumatoid facto r (RF), antinuclear, anti-SS-A (anti-Ro) and anti-SS-B (anti-LA) autoantibo dies. The susceptibility to pSS and/or che presence of SS-A/SS-B autoantibo dies in PSS patients is associated with DRB1*03-DQB1*02 and DRB1*02-DQB1*06 haplotypes, whereas no associations have been described with any HLA class I allele. To define the impact uf HLA class I alleles ill predisposition t u pSS, 46 patients responding to the European criteria and 222 healthy unre lated Caucasians were analyzed for their HLA class I and class II haplotype s. Our results confirm the association of thr DRB1*03-DQB1*02 haplotype wit h SS-A/SS-B autoantibodies positive pSS and demonstrate a significant assoc iation of the HLA-A24 with the disease. Moreover HLA-A24 is more often asso ciated with DRB1*11-DQB1*0301 and/or DRB1*0301-DQB1*02 in pSS patients than in the controls. The novel association of HLA class I alleles with suscept ibility to pSS provides new insights to the genetic predisposition to this disease and subsequently to its physiopathology. (C) American Society for H istocompatibility and Immunogenetics, 2001. Published by Elsevier Science I nc.