U.C.L.A. Rheumatology Pathophysiology of Disease Course Lecture,
Second Year Medical School 1997
Frequently Asked Questions Page 72
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No pathogen has been identified which is commonly accepted as the cause of arthritis. However, one of the causes is genetics. Patients with Rheumatoid arthritis usually have an HLA class II allele which contains a shared short sequence.
Figure 2. Schematic of a MHC class II molecule. Also see Chapter 3 Figure 4 which demonstrates the shared short sequence (shared epitope).
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