[Rhizomelic pseudopolyarthritis and Horton's disease. A search for correlations with HLA system, HB virus and Beta 2...

The authors studied 31 patients with either rhizomelic pseudopolyarthritis or Horton's disease. Contrary to others, they found no significant correlation between these diseases and hepatitis B virus infection or HLA gene. However, beta 2 microglobulin assays showed that it was significantly higher in these patients than in a control population. In the absence of close correlation between beta 2 microglobulin levels and those of inflammatory proteins, it is suggested that the rise in microglobulin reflected an immunological mechanism requiring further investigation.