These findings are consistent with the most compelling results of previous reports on HLA associations and suggest a JIADRB1 shared epitope encompassing critical amino-acid residues in the third hypervariable region of this molecule.
High-resolution HLA-DRB1 genotyping was performed in 107 children with oligoarticular and polyarticular rheumatoid factor (RF) negative JIA and 373 non-Hispanic white controls.