HLA antigens in vertebral ankylosing hyperostosis (Forestier's disease)

Vertebral ankylosing hyperostosis (VAH) represents a chronic spinal disorder that is often difficult to differentiate both from the inflammatory involvement of the spine like ankylosing spondylitis (Bechterew--AS) and from several forms of spondylosis or paravertebral ossifications of psoriatic spondylitis. Shapiro (1, 2) observed a significantly higher frequency of HLA antigen B27 in 47 patients with VAH; but this observation could not be confirmed by other authors. In our group of 46 patients with VAH, most of them males, there were no X ray signs of sacroiliitis. Compared with 1210 healthy blood donors, no significant difference was observed in the distribution of 31 HLA antigens of A, B, C locus.