We studied whether or not HLA-A,B,C and DR antigens were associated with clinical and immunological findings in 116 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in Japan. SLE patients tended to be associated with HLA-DR2, compared with 75 healthy individuals. Among the SLE patients, there was an association between HLA antigens and the presence or absence of certain clinical or immunological features. Different HLA antigens might have a predictive value for SLE and/or the same clinical and immunological abnormalities between Caucasian and Japanese SLE patients.