Expression and gene isoforms of HLA-B27 in ankylosing spondylitis patients

Objective To analyze the expression and gene isoforms of HLA-B27 in patients with ankylosing spondiylitis (AS). Methods Forty-seven AS patients treated in Central People’s Hospital of Huizhou from January to December of 2018 were selected as observation group, and 47 persons who underwent physical examination in the same period were selected as control group. The expression of HLA-B27 of the two groups were determined by flow cytometry, and gene isoforms of HLA-B27 in positive patients were detected by fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The examination results of the two groups were analyzed. Results The positive rate of HLA-B27 of the observation group was 91.49% (43/47), higher than the 8.51% (4/47) of the control group (P 0.05). HLA-B2706 and HLA-B2709 were predominant types of gene isoform in the control group, while HLA-B2704 and HLA-B2705 were main gene isoforms in the observation group. The proportion of patients with HLA-B2704 or HLA-B2705 in the observation group was bigger than that in the control group, but the proportion of patients with HLA-B2706 and HLA-B2709 in the observation group was less (P<0.05). Conclusions HLA-B27 positive is common in young male adults. Moreover, most of AS patients are HLA-B27 positive, with HLA-B2704 or HLA-B2705 as predominant gene isoforms, which is significantly different from healthy persons. Performing determination on gene iosforms of HLA-B27 is conductive to early diagnosis and treatment of AS in clinical. Key words: Spondylitis, ankylosing; HLA-B27; Gene isoforms; Differential diagnosis