The data confirm our previous finding of a significant increase in patients with AS of allele A at SNP rs1264457 encoding for an Arg at the functional HLA-E polymorphism (Arg128/Gly128).
In particular, there was a markedly increased prevalence of heterozygosity at rs1264457 among B27-positive controls (74%, versus 47% in patients and 54% in random controls), suggesting a protective role of G128 in AS.