title: Human leukocyte antigen B27 in 453 Asian Indian patients with seronegative spondyloarthropathy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Spondyloarthropathies are a group of closely related inflammatory arthritis which involve the axial skeleton and are negative for rheumatoid factor.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This case-control study was conducted to examine HLA- B27 positivity in patients with seronegative spondyloarthritis (SSA) as per ESSG criteria and compare the frequency with healthy controls because a lower positivity is reported in Indians.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 453 patients and 200 controls. HLA -B27 typing was done by microlymphocytotoxicity and/or by sequence specific primers (SSP) using commercial kits. Patients were categorised as Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), Undifferentiated Spondyloarthropathy, SSA with inflammatory bowel disease, reactive arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and juvenile spondyloarthropathy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  HLA- B27 antigen was present in 56% of patient and 3.5% controls with highest frequency in juvenile spondyloarthropathy (80%), followed by AS (76%). The P value < 0.001 for all categories of SSA and overall Odds ratio was 34.9.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed HLA-B27 frequency slightly lower than reported in Caucasian SSA patients and in our opinion HLA- B27 testing is extremely useful in young patients with suspected SSA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Command Hospital (SC), Pune, India. mnmishra@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Mahandra Narain
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Mishra
authors.forename: Vinay
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Singal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001168:Arthritis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology; D044466:Asian People; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D015796:HLA-B27 Antigen / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D025242:Spondylarthropathies / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015796:HLA-B27 Antigen