A new model for an etiology of rheumatoid arthritis: Smoking may trigger HLA–DR (shared epitope)–restricted immune reactions to autoantigens modified by citrullination

Abstract excerpt

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether smoking and HLA-DR shared epitope (SE) genes may interact in triggering immune reactions to citrulline-modified proteins. METHODS: In a case-control study involving patients with recent-onset rheumatoid arthritis (RA), we studied interactions between a major environmental risk factor (smoking), major susceptibility genes included in the SE of HLA-DR, and the presence of the most...

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