The importance of genetic factors for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis as well as for the severity of the disease course has already been already demonstrated in several papers. Nevertheless, the issue of genetic predisposition has not been completely resolved yet. Patients and methods. HLA typing was performed in the group of 91 patients with psoriatic arthritis using the serological method. Patients were separated into two subgroups according to the speed of radiological progression. Individual disease forms were also assessed separately. Results. HLA B27 allele was present in 24,5 % of patients in the whole group; in 42.1% of patients with sacroiliitis, and in 21.2% with spondylitis. A significant association has been found between the presence of allele HLA B40 and the rapidity of the disease progression. Conclusion.: In the group with axial formof psoriatic arthritis the association with HLA B27 applies to sacroiliitis, but not to spondylitis. The association between HLA B40 with rapidity of the disease progression has not been described yet and may have a capacity for the prediction of disease severity.

        Key words: psoriatic arthritis, immunogenetic, psoriasis, binding imbalance