title: Frequency of HLA-A alleles in Japanese patients with head and neck cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Association between certain human leukocyte antigen (HLA) types such as HLA-A1 and -A3 and squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) has been demonstrated in the Caucasian population. HLA typings in these studies were performed by conventional serological methods. However, recent comparison studies between serological and molecular typings have revealed that the former are often inaccurate.
  
  
  METHODS
  The frequency of HLA-A alleles in 100 Japanese patients with SCCHN and 100 control subjects was determined by the polymerase chain reaction, with primers specific for the HLA-A locus, in combination with dot-blot hybridization with 31 sequence-specific oligonucleotides.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The frequencies of HLA-A*2602 and HLA-A*3303 were higher and those of HLA-A*2603 and HLA-A*3101 were lower in the patients with SCCHN than in healthy controls, but these differences were not statistically significant. In the 39 male patients with laryngeal carcinoma, the most common malignancies in Japanese patients with SCCHN, the frequency of HLA-A*2402 was significantly lower than that in the 80 male controls; however, after correction of the P value, statistical significance was not confirmed. In oral carcinoma patients, the frequency of HLA-A*2402 was significantly higher than that in healthy controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that the contribution of certain HLA-A alleles to susceptibility to SCCHN may differ between sites in the head and neck regions, despite these cancers being of an identical histological type, and that HLA-A*2402 may influence the development of oral carcinoma in Japanese patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Kumamoto University School of Medicine, Japan. eura@gpo.kumamoto-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eura
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Katsura
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oiso
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Obata
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Masuyama
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D044466:Asian People; D001483:Base Sequence; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D015234:HLA-A Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D015234:HLA-A Antigens