title: Shared epitope and radiologic progression are less prominent in elderly onset RA than young onset RA.
abstract: The aim of this study was to determine the influence of HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 genes on the disease susceptibility and the disease severity in elderly onset rheumatoid arthritis (EORA) compared with young onset rheumatoid arthritis (YORA) in Korean patients. Genetic analysis of HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 alleles was performed in three groups. Group 1 included 63 patients who were diagnosed with (rheumatoid arthritis) RA after the age of 60 (EORA). Group 2 consisted of 109 patients who were diagnosed with RA before the age of 60 (YORA). Group 3 involved 133 normal controls. The shared-epitope-coding alleles included the members of the HLA-DRB1*04 allele group (*0401, *0404, *0405, *0408, *0410), HLA-DRB1*01 allele group (*0101,*0102), HLA-DRB1*1001, and HLA-DRB1*1402. The disease severity was assessed by the modified total sharp score (mTSS). The shared-epitope-coding alleles were more frequently observed in the RA patients than in the normal controls. The shared-epitope-coding alleles were less frequently found in EORA group than YORA group (31/63 (49.2%) in group 1, 72/109 (66.1%) in group 2, 45/133 (33.8%) group 3, p = 0.02). Although the mTSS of the group 1 was higher than group 2 at symptom onset, the overall mean mTSS of the group 1 was lower than that of group 2 (26.8 vs. 57.5, p < 0.05). HLA-DQ*04 showed the higher frequency in the patients group than in normal controls (p < 0.001). And HLA-DQ*04 was less commonly found in the patients with EORA than YORA (p < 0.05). The influence of shared epitope and HLA-DQ*04 alleles may be less significant on disease susceptibility in EORA. The presence of shared-epitope-coding alleles did not appear to influence on disease severity in EORA patients as well as in YORA patients. Radiologic deterioration in EORA group was less severe than in YORA group. The presence of shared epitope and radiologic progression are less prominent in EORA patients than YORA patients.
authors: Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 505 Banpo-Dong, Seocho-Gu, Seoul 137-701, South Korea.
authors: Eun-Ji
authors: EJ
authors: Kim
authors: Jennifer
authors: J
authors: Lee
authors: Yang-Sun
authors: YS
authors: Ryu
authors: Ji-Min
authors: JM
authors: Kim
authors: Yong-Geun
authors: YG
authors: Jeong
authors: Seung-Ki
authors: SK
authors: Kwok
authors: Ji-Hyeon
authors: JH
authors: Ju
authors: Kyung-Su
authors: KS
authors: Park
authors: Sung-Hwan
authors: SH
authors: Park
authors: Hee-Baeg
authors: HB
authors: Choi
authors: Tai-Gyu
authors: TG
authors: Kim
authors: Ho-Youn
authors: HY
authors: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D018450:Disease Progression; D000939:Epitopes / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D050823:Hand Joints / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes