Association of Human Leukocyte Antigens with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma in High-Risk Multiplex Families in Taiwan

An association between specific human leukocyte antigens ( HLA) alleles and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has been reported for sporadic NPC, but studies of familial NPC are lacking. We evaluated this association with familial NPC in a study of 301 NPC cases and 1010 family and community controls from Taiwan. Class I HLA alleles were characterized using a sequence-based typing protocol. Allele frequencies between case and control groups were compared by chi(2) or exact tests. For alleles associated with NPC, oddsratios (OR ) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Similar allelic frequency distribution and HLA associations were found as those previously reported for sporadic NPC: protective effect for HLA-A*1101 and increased risk for HLA- A*0207, HLA-A *3303, HLA-B*3802, and HLA-B*5801. Overall, the magnitude of observed associations was weakest when cases were compared with sibling controls and strongest when compared with unrelated community controls. Evaluating the joint effect of HLA-A*0207 and HLA-B*4601, individuals who were carriers of HLA-A*0207 with or without the presence of HLA-B*4601 had a 1. 9-fold (95% CI = 1.0-3.4) and 2.1-fold ( 95% CI = 0.83-5.3) risk of NPC, respectively. Conversely, carriers of HLA-B*4601 in the absence of HLA-A* 0207 had a 50 % reduction in NPC risk (95% CI = 0.27-0.93). Comparable findings from our family study and those from previous sporadic studies were found with the notable exception of a lack of positive association between HLA-B*4601 and familial NPC in the absence of HLA-A*0207. This finding requires replication in larger studies. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics