Genomic Influences on Susceptibility and Severity of Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Genetics in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has moved from the finding of HLA-shared epitope decades ago toward the understanding of the role of HLA in RA and the findings of ∼100 additional genetic risk variants for disease susceptibility as well as several risk variants for severe disease. These findings increased our understanding of RA abnormality. Still, the mechanisms by which many of the variants exhibit their effect are not yet understood.