Figure 1.

Location of MICA relative to the HLA-DRB1 locus. Despite a distance of more than one megabase from the rheumatoid arthritis risk factor HLA-DRB1 in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II region, there is considerable linkage disequilibrium between markers in both genes. Therefore, HLA-DRB1 status must be considered for interpretation of genetic association data.