The current study was initiated to describe prospectively the phenotype and HLA-DRB1 genotype of newly diagnosed RA patients attending the rheumatology unit of the UHK in order to assess the severity of the disease in this part of the world and to test the potential involvement of amino acids 70 to 74 in the third hypervariable region of HLA-DRB1 (SE). This evidence concerns the gene HLA-DRB1 and rheumatoid arthritis.