title: Is there a relationship between HLA type and prognostic factors in breast cancer?
abstract: No convincing association exists between HLA type and breast cancer development but certain HLA types have been suggested to be associated with poor risk disease. Here, the HLA type (class I and II) for 141 breast cancer patients was compared to a control population of 100 individuals and to the prognostic indicators for the patients. No association was found between HLA type and breast cancer development. Consideration of individual HLA/prognostic factor relationships previously reported confirmed that HLA-B7 was over-represented in premenopausal oestrogen-receptor (ER)-positive, grade 3 tumours (p = 0.04) and that HLA-A1 correlated positively with Nottingham Prognostic Index (p < 0.05) and with ER-negative disease (p < 0.05). These findings suggest that some previously identified associations between HLA type I and particular prognostic factors may be real, if weak but appear to conflict with the only other sizeable study investigating HLA type II in breast cancer (which negatively correlated HLA-DR 11 with early onset disease).
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oncology, University of Edinburgh Cancer Research Center, Western General Hospital, Crewe Road, Edinburgh EH4 2XR, Scotland. charles.gourley@cancer.org.uk
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gourley
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Thornton
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Massie
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Prescott
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: R C F
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Leonard
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Kilpatrick
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D015234:HLA-A Antigens / Q000097:blood* / Q000145:classification; D015235:HLA-B Antigens / Q000097:blood* / Q000145:classification; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000097:blood* / Q000145:classification; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000096:biosynthesis
chemical_list: D015234:HLA-A Antigens; D015235:HLA-B Antigens; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen