Ann Rheum Dis 2000;59:574
( July )
Letters to the editor
HLA-DRB1*04 may be a marker of
severity in giant cell arteritis
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Salvarani et al recently studied 39 patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA) and found no association with
HLA-DRB1*04.1 In contrast, previous immunogenetic studies
did show an association between HLA-DRB1*04 and GCA.2 3
Rauzy et al, also, reported a significant
increase in DRB1*04 frequency in GCA. HLA-DRB1*04 was present in 20 of
their 41 patients with GCA (49%) compared with a prevalence of 20% in
the control group.4
Likewise, in a series of 53 patients with GCA from north west Spain, we
found a significant increase in DRB1*04 frequency (44%
v 26% in the controls).5
Although Rauzy did not find a correlation between HLA markers and the
initial severity of the vasculitis, there are several similarities
between their results and ours. Those authors described a relation
between HLA-DRB1*04 and corticosteroid resistance. In our series
HLA-DRB1*04 was particularly pronounced in those patients with severe
visual complications.5 Both higher corticosteroid
requirement and severe ischaemic complications imply a . . . [Full text of this article]
