Association of HLA-DQB1 alleles with risk of follicular lymphoma.
In a recent genome-wide association study of follicular lymphoma (FL), we identified novel risk alleles on chromosome 6p21.33 that appeared to be part of an extended haplotype including HLA-DRB1*0101, DQA1*0101, and DQB1*0501. To follow up on these findings, we obtained 2-4 digit HLA-DQB1 allelotypes on a subset of 265 cases of FL and 757 controls using a novel assay that applies multiplexed ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA). We confirmed a positive association between FL and the HLA-DQB1*05 allele group (OR = 1.70, 95% CI 1.28-2.27; adjusted p-value = 0.013) and also identified an allele group inversely associated with FL risk, HLA-DQB1*06 (OR = 0.51, 95% CI 0.38-0.69; adjusted p-value = 4.46 × 10(-5)). Although these findings require verification, the role of HLA class II proteins in B-cell survival and proliferation makes this a biologically plausible association.
School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. kipp@berkeley.edu
Nicholas K
NK
Akers
John D
JD
Curry
Lucia
L
Conde
Paige M
PM
Bracci
Martyn T
MT
Smith
Christine F
CF
Skibola
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000483:Alleles; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002896:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 6 / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; D006801:Humans; D008224:Lymphoma, Follicular / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012495:San Francisco / Q000453:epidemiology; D015996:Survival Rate; D055815:Young Adult
D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains