It was previously shown that HLA-B27 subtypes predisposing to spondyloarthritis (SpA), i.e., B*27:02, B*27:05, and B*27:07, displayed an increased propensity to form intracellular oligomers and to accumulate at a high density in cytoplasmic vesicles, as compared to the non-SpA-associated HLA-B*07:02 and HLA-B*27:06. This study was undertaken to characterize the nature and content of HLA-B-containing vesicles and to further examine their relevance to SpA predisposition.
Vesicles containing HLA-B proteins were detected in transfected HeLa cells and in cells from SpA patients or HLA-B27/human β
The SpA-associated HLA-B*27:04 subtype accumulated at higher levels (P < 10
Accumulation of misfolded HLA-B heavy chain along with β