RESUMO
Rheumatoid Arthritis [RA] is a multisystem inflammatory disease, which primarily affects synovial joints. to shed light on the possible association o] HLA class-l antigens in RA patients in Iraq. Microlymphocytotoxicity assay has been used to assess HLA-typing of 249 blood samples of 80 RA patients, 62 patient controls [SLE] and 107 healthy normal controls. This study revealed that HLA-A10, B22, B40, Cwl and Cw7 might play a role in RA susceptibility with significant differences between RA and controls [P<0.0001, 0.009, 0.007, 0.005 and 0.002]. On the other hand negative association was observed significantly with HLA-A2 [P<0.0001] and B14 [P<0.028]. high RF positivity participated in increasing the inflammatory effects which probably reflects the acute phase response by high level of CRP as this study pointed to