Identification ofantihistone antibodies insubsets of juvenile chronic arthritis

SUMMARY Antihistone antibodies (AHAs)as measured byan enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) were detected intheseraof58(48%)of121unselected patients withjuvenile chronic arthritis (JCA). AHAswerefound in28(93%)of30patients withJCAwithuveitis butin only30(33%)of91patients withJCAwithout uveitis. AHA positivity was unrelated tothetype ofjoint involvement, disease activity, anddrugregimen. WhentheAHA positive group was divided into 28patients withJCAwithuveitis and30patients withJCAwithout uveitis a distinct responsepatternofAHA was detected ineachgroup. Anti-H3dominated intheJCA/uveitis group,whereas amore heterogeneous AHA pattemwas showninthegroup without uveitis. The results indicate that subtyping forAHA reactivity may define patients whoarehighly susceptible forthedevelopment ofanterior uveitis.