The Molecular Genetic Features of Patients with Juvenile Arthritis in Yakutia

The research objective was to conduct a retrospective study of patients with Juvenile arthritis (JA) in association with the carriage of the HLA-B27 allele. Materials and Methods: A total of 73 patients (39 boys and 34 girls aged from 1 to 16 years, mean age of 10.28±4.24 years) living in Yakutia with Juvenile Chronic Arthritis (JCA), Juvenile Ankylosing Spondylitis (JAS), Juvenile Psoriatic Arthritis (JPsA), and reactive arthritis (RA) were examined. Among them, 62(84.9%) children were of Yakut nationality, and 11(15.1%) – the Russian nationality. The control group included 85 Yakuts without clinical diagnosis of arthritis. Testing for the HLA-B27 allele was performed according to Dominquez et al. (1992) as modified by Steffens-Nakken et al. (1995). Results: According to the genotyping results, in 30 of 73 examined samples an association was found between the HLA-B27 allele carriage and JA. The HLA-B27 allele was diagnosed in 24(38.7%) Yakuts and 6(54.5%) ethnic Russians. For further analysis, all patients (Yakuts, Russians) were divided into diagnosis-related groups. Diagnoses of JAS (n=10) and JCA (n=9) prevailed in Yakuts. In the Russian children, RA was more common (n=4). In population sampling of Yakuts, the frequency of the HLA-B27 allele was 33%. A comparison of the frequencies of the HLA-B27 allele among the Yakut patient groups and the control group found a statistically significant association with JAS. The carriage of the HLA-B27 allele in Yakut females did not increase the risk of JAS development, whereas in male Yakuts this risk increased by 5.6 times.