Spondyloarthropathies

Abstract

The spondyloarthropathies are a group of inflammatory joint disorders that share an association with HLA-B27. Like other autoimmune diseases, spondyloarthropathies are thought to be due to exposure of a genetically susceptible individual to an environmental antigen. The prototypical disorder in this group is ankylosing spondylitis, which has an unknown etiology. Other spondyloarthropathies include Reiter's syndrome/reactive arthritis, for which various triggering pathogens have been identified, psoriatic arthritis, arthropathy of inflammatory bowel disease, and undifferentiated spondyloarthropathies. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved..