PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Terao, Chikashi AU - Ohmura, Koichiro AU - Kochi, Yuta AU - Ikari, Katsunori AU - Maruya, Etsuko AU - Katayama, Masaki AU - Shimada, Kota AU - Murasawa, Akira AU - Honjo, Shigeru AU - Takasugi, Kiyoshi AU - Matsuo, Keitaro AU - Tajima, Kazuo AU - Suzuki, Akari AU - Yamamoto, Kazuhiko AU - Momohara, Shigeki AU - Yamanaka, Hisashi AU - Yamada, Ryo AU - Saji, Hiroo AU - Matsuda, Fumihiko AU - Mimori, Tsuneyo TI - A large-scale association study identified multiple HLA-DRB1 alleles associated with ACPA-negative rheumatoid arthritis in Japanese subjects AID - 10.1136/annrheumdis-2011-200353 DP - 2011 Dec 01 TA - Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases PG - 2134--2139 VI - 70 IP - 12 4099 - http://ard.bmj.com/content/70/12/2134.short 4100 - http://ard.bmj.com/content/70/12/2134.full SO - Ann Rheum Dis2011 Dec 01; 70 AB - Background HLA-DRB1 is associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, it has recently been suggested that HLA-DRB1 is only associated with patients with RA who have anticitrullinated peptide/protein antibodies (ACPA), which are specific to RA. Objective To elucidate whether specific HLA-DR alleles are associated with ACPA-negative RA development. Methods HLA-DRB1 typing was carried out in 368 Japanese ACPA-negative patients with RA and 1508 healthy volunteers as the first set, followed by HLA-DRB1 typing of 501 cases and 500 controls as the second set. The HLA-DRB1 allele frequency and diplotype frequency were compared in each group, and the results of the two studies were combined to detect HLA-DRB1 alleles or diplotypes associated with ACPA-negative RA. Results HLA-DRB1*12:01 was identified as a novel susceptibility allele for ACPA-negative RA (p=0.000088, OR=1.72, 95% CI 1.31 to 2.26). HLA-DRB1*04:05 and *14:03 showed moderate associations with ACPA-negative RA (p=0.0063, OR=1.26, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.49 and p=0.0043, OR=1.81, 95% CI 1.20 to 2.73, respectively). The shared epitope was weakly associated with ACPA-negative RA, but no dosage effect was detected (p=0.016, OR=1.17, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.34). A combination of HLA-DRB1*12:01 and DRB1*09:01 showed a strong association with susceptibility to ACPA-negative RA (p=0.00013, OR=3.62, 95% CI 1.79 to 7.30). Homozygosity for HLA-DR8 was significantly associated with ACPA-negative RA (p=0.0070, OR=2.16, 95% CI 1.22 to 3.82). It was also found that HLA-DRB1*15:02 and *13:02 were protective against ACPA-negative RA (p=0.00010, OR=0.68, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.83 and p=0.00059, OR=0.66, 95% CI 0.52 to 0.84, respectively). Conclusions In this large-scale association study multiple alleles and diplotypes were found to be associated with susceptibility to, or protection against, ACPA-negative RA.