Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases logoLink to Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
. 1987 May;46(5):353–356. doi: 10.1136/ard.46.5.353

Distribution of HLA-B27 subtypes in patients with ankylosing spondylitis: the disease is associated with a common determinant of the various B27 molecules.

B S Breur-Vriesendorp, A J Dekker-Saeys, P Ivanyi
PMCID: PMC1002140  PMID: 2439031

Abstract

HLA-B27 subtypes can be defined by cellular, serological, and biochemical techniques. The seven subtypes so far identified represent structural variants of B27 with limited variations in the amino acid sequence of the B27 molecule. The routinely typed B27 'antigen' remains a common (shared, public) determinant present on various B27 molecules. The distribution of the subtypes varies strongly among different ethnic groups and they occur in different linkage disequilibria. In the healthy Dutch population only two subtypes were found: B27W (B27 X 1, B27M2+) (90%) and B27K (B27 X 2, B27M2-) (10%). A similar distribution of B27 subtypes was observed in 91 unrelated Dutch patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS)--namely, 92% B27W and 8% B27K. In Oriental populations the subtype distribution is quite different: B27W occurs in less than 50%, whereas more than 50% individuals are of the B27C and B27D subtypes. Preliminary data indicate that the distribution of subtypes in healthy and diseased Oriental individuals is similar. These results suggest that the B27 and disease (AS) association is not correlated with the structural variations of one of the B27 subtypes, but with a common B27 determinant shared by various B27 subtypes. Consequently, the disease is older than the B27 variants. Further studies on disease and subtype distribution in various ethnic groups might contribute to a better understanding of the origin of both.

Full text

PDF
353

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Breur-Vriesendorp B. S., Neefjes J. C., Huis B., van Seventer G. A., Ploegh H. L., Iványi P. Identification of new B27 subtypes (B27C and B27D) prevalent in oriental populations. Hum Immunol. 1986 Jun;16(2):163–168. doi: 10.1016/0198-8859(86)90045-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Choo S. Y., Seyfreid C., Hansen J. A., Nepom G. T. Tryptic peptide mapping identifies structural heterogeneity among six variants of HLA-B27. Immunogenetics. 1986;23(6):409–412. doi: 10.1007/BF00372676. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Coppin H. L., McDevitt H. O. Absence of polymorphism between HLA-B27 genomic exon sequences isolated from normal donors and ankylosing spondylitis patients. J Immunol. 1986 Oct 1;137(7):2168–2172. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Ezquerra A., Bragado R., Vega M. A., Strominger J. L., Woody J., López de Castro J. A. Primary structure of papain-solubilized human histocompatibility antigen HLA-B27. Biochemistry. 1985 Mar 26;24(7):1733–1741. doi: 10.1021/bi00328a025. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Grumet F. C., Fendly B. M., Fish L., Foung S., Engleman E. G. Monoclonal antibody (B27M2) subdividing HLA-B27. Hum Immunol. 1982 Aug;5(1):61–72. doi: 10.1016/0198-8859(82)90031-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Neefjes J. J., Breur-Vriesendorp B. S., van Seventer G. A., Iványi P., Ploegh H. L. An improved biochemical method for the analysis of HLA-class I antigens. Definition of new HLA-class I subtypes. Hum Immunol. 1986 Jun;16(2):169–181. doi: 10.1016/0198-8859(86)90046-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Seemann G. H., Rein R. S., Brown C. S., Ploegh H. L. Gene conversion-like mechanisms may generate polymorphism in human class I genes. EMBO J. 1986 Mar;5(3):547–552. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1986.tb04245.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Szöts H., Riethmüller G., Weiss E., Meo T. Complete sequence of HLA-B27 cDNA identified through the characterization of structural markers unique to the HLA-A, -B, and -C allelic series. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Mar;83(5):1428–1432. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.5.1428. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Toubert A., Gomard E., Grumet F. C., Amor B., Muller J. Y., Levy J. P. Identification of several functional subgroups of HLA-B27 by restriction of the activity of antiviral T killer lymphocytes. Immunogenetics. 1984;20(5):513–525. doi: 10.1007/BF00364354. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Vega M. A., Ezquerra A., Rojo S., Aparicio P., Bragado R., López de Castro J. A. Structural analysis of an HLA-B27 functional variant: identification of residues that contribute to the specificity of recognition by cytolytic T lymphocytes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Nov;82(21):7394–7398. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.21.7394. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Vega M. A., Wallace L., Rojo S., Bragado R., Aparicio P., López de Castro J. A. Delineation of functional sites in HLA-B27 antigens. Molecular analysis of HLA-B27 variant Wewak I defined by cytolytic T lymphocytes. J Immunol. 1985 Nov;135(5):3323–3332. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES