Rheumatic fever and HLA antingens

In this study we typed HLA class I and II antigens in a series of patients presenting with the distinct major clinical manifestations of rheumatic fever (RF), i.e, chorea, carditis or arthritis. Ninety-one patients with RF were evaluated for HLA-A, -B and -DR antigens. Thirty- three had pure chorea, 26 pure carditis, 16 pure arthritis, and 16 carditis plus arthritis. HLA antigens were typed by a complement-dependent microlymphocytotoxicity assay. HLA-B49 and HLA-DR1 antigens were overrepresented in the total group of patients with RF and in all the subgroups studied, excluding the chorea subgroup in which the frequency of HLA-DR1 antigen was not increased. The results reported here indicate that immunogenetic susceptibility to RF may vary according to the major clinical manifestation presented by the patient.