HLA and systemic lupus erythematosus in Chinese

Seventy-five unrelated Chinese SLE patients were HLA typed and subdivided into mild and severe disease. The HLA-B13 was associated with mild disease. Fourteen of 30 (46.7%) mild disease patients had B13 compared to 63/330 (19.1%) normal subjects (p less than 0.0005, corrected p less than 0.013, RR = 3.7). The HLA-B17 on the other hand was observed in 29% of 45 severe disease patients compared to 13.9% of 330 normal subjects (p less than 0.01, RR = 2.5). The frequency of HLA-B17 in 11 patients who died was even higher (45.5%).