Evaluation of Some Genetic Factors in Rheumatoid Arthritis patients in Iraq

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, destructive autoimmune disease affecting the joints. With more sophisticated and effective therapies becoming available and with the understanding that early intervention is crucial in preventing irreversible joint damage. The main purpose of this observational study was to evaluate and detects a good genetic factors may be used in early detection of RA.  A total of 40 patients with RA who were fulfilled four or more of the 1987 American College of Rheumatology (ACR), 20 patients with joints problems (JP), 20 RA patient relatives (PR) and 10 apparently healthy control individuals were included in this study. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genotyping was performed using Mr. Spot SSO system. The distribution of HLA class II genotypes in 20 RA patients and 30 control groups were studied. HLA-DRB1*04 was significantly most common genotypes in the RA patients (70%) compared to control groups (23.3%). While, the frequency of HLA-DRB1*11 was very high among controls (53.3%) compared to RA patients (25.0%), but the difference was not statistically significant. RA susceptibility in most Iraqi patients was associated with the HLA-DRB1*04 genotype. The HLA-DRB1*04 allele contributed significantly to the development of RA .HLA- Therefore, HLA-DRB1*04 allele appears to play an important pathogenic role in all subsets of RA.