Association of erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein and clinical findings with HLA-DQ8 allele in Rheumatoid Arthritis patients

Background ― Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory, autoimmune disease induced by certain auto-antigens. HLA-DRB1*0401 allele has a significant relationship with RA incident. Additionally, DQβ1*0301, *302(DQ8), *303, and *304 can increase RA risk especially in DQA1*0301 and *302 coincident. Recent studies suggest that distribution of this allele is different in various populations Material and Methods ― 70 patients and 70 healthy controls were analyzed for human leukocyte antigen (HLA) allele by specific primer-polymerase chain reaction (SSP-PCR) method. Patients were evaluated in terms of ESR and CRP. Data analysis was performed in SPSS V.17. Results ― HLA-DQ8 allele was significantly more frequent in RA patients compared to control (P