title: Association of MICA-129 polymorphism with nasopharyngeal cancer risk in a Tunisian population.
abstract: Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I chain-related A (MICA) molecules mediate natural killer (NK) cell activation and T lymphocyte co-stimulation. A polymorphic methionine (met) to valine (val) variation at amino acid position 129 of the alpha2 heavy chain domain is in linkage disequilibrium with other allelic changes and seems to categorize MICA alleles into strong and weak binder of NKG2D receptor and thereby to influence effector cell function. We investigated here whether MICA-129 dimorphism is associated with susceptibility to/or resistance against developing nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC). DNA from 130 NPC patients and 180 healthy individuals from Tunisia were genotyped for MICA-129 variation. We found a higher frequency of MICA-129 val/val genotype in patients than in controls (corrected p value = 0.02) that could suggest a tumor escape mechanism because of failure to activate NK cells by MICA-129 val allele or absence of NK cell activation because of absence of MICA-129 met allele in individuals otherwise predisposed to viral/environmental factors.
authors.affiliation: Immunology and Histocompatibility Department, CIB-HOG, AP-HP/GHU-Nord, IUH and INSERM, Saint-Louis Hospital, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Hayet
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Douik
authors.forename: Arij
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ben Chaaben
authors.forename: Neila
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Attia Romdhane
authors.forename: Habiba Ben
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Romdhane
authors.forename: Tesnim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mamoghli
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fortier
authors.forename: Wahid
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Boukouaci
authors.forename: Latifa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Harzallah
authors.forename: Abderraouf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghanem
authors.forename: Said
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gritli
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Makni
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Charron
authors.forename: Rajagopal
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Krishnamoorthy
authors.forename: Fethi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Guemira
authors.forename: Ryad
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tamouza
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055655:NK Cell Lectin-Like Receptor Subfamily K / Q000378:metabolism; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012306:Risk; D014416:Tunisia
chemical_list: D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; C099187:MHC class I-related chain A; D055655:NK Cell Lectin-Like Receptor Subfamily K