[Anterior uveitis with ankylosing spondylitis and HLA]

We investigated the relationship between anterior uveitis with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles. Forty patients were studied, 19 with anterior uveitis and 21 without it. No deviation in the frequencies of HLA-B27 antigen and related alleles were observed between the two groups of patients. Twelve cases (63.2%) with anterior uveitis had expressed HLA-DR8 (DRB1 0803). On the other hand, only 1 case had expressed the same antigen and this difference was statistically significant (relative risk: 34.3 Pc < 0.007) as we reported previously. We found HLA-DR8 was a candidate for susceptibility to anterior uveitis in AS.