Associations of Human Leukocyte Antigen-DRB1 Alleles with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma and Its Clinical Significance in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Genetic susceptibility is one of the major etiological factors for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Among the genetic predisposing factors, human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes have been reported to be associated with NPC. This study aimed to investigate the associations of HLA-DRB1 alleles with NPC and the clinical significance of HLA-DRB1 alleles in NPC.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>From January 2009 to December 2013, 140 NPC patients (118 Han patients and 22 Uyghur patients) and 158 healthy controls (81 Han individuals and 77 Uyghur individuals) from Xinjiang Province were genotyped for HLA-DRB1 using the polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primer technique. Chi-square analysis was used when comparing allele frequencies between groups. The clinical outcomes were evaluated by Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression model.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with healthy controls, the allele frequency of HLA-DRB1*0701 was increased in the Uyghur patients (P = 0.008) but not in the Han patients (P = 0.869). HLA-DRB1*0101 allele was presented with higher frequency in clinical Stage I + II group compared with clinical Stage III + IV group in the Han patients (P = 0.015) but not in the Uyghur patients (P = 1.000). Higher frequency of HLA-DRB1*1501 allele was observed in patients aged <45 years compared with those in patients aged ≥45 years (P = 0.002). Neither HLA-DRB1*0701 nor HLA-DRB1*0101 had a statistically significant association with 3-year survival.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>This study found HLA-DRB1*0701 in Uyghur population was associated with an increased risk of developing NPC. In Han population, we found HLA-DRB1*0101 was associated with protection from disease progression, and HLA-DRB1*1501 was associated with early age of onset. HLA-DRB1 could not be identified as a prognostic indicator for NPC in either Han or Uyghur patients.</p>

HLA-A*02-B*46 haplotype: an adverse prognostic factor in Han patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma / 华中科技大学学报（医学）（英德文版）

Epidemiological studies have shown that human leukocyte antigen (HLA) allelic polymorphisms are closely correlated to susceptibility to nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), and in a previous study, we showed that HLA-B*46 and HLA-A*02-B*46 haplotypes were strongly associated with NPC susceptibility. In this retrospective study, we investigated the phenotype of the HLA-A and HLA-B alleles and haplotypes and correlated these data to the clinical and pathological parameters of NPC to understand the role of HLA alleles and haplotypes in NPC prognosis. The cohort comprised 117 NPC patients from a Han population in Xinjiang. The local recurrence-free survival (LRFS), distant metastasis- free survival (DMFS), disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) were analyzed. The 5-year DMFS of the HLA-A*02-B*46 haplotype carriers and non-carriers was 66.4% and 90.3%, respectively. In addition, age was found to be a prognostic factor for LRFS, DFS, and OS (P=0.032, 0.040, and 0.013, respectively). We found that the HLA-A*02-B*46 haplotype might be a prognostic marker in addition to the traditional TNM staging in patients with NPC.