title: High frequency of human leukocyte antigen class II DRB1*1602 haplotype in Greek patients with myelodysplastic syndrome and of DRB1*1501 in the low-risk subgroup.
abstract: Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) comprise a heterogenous group of clonal hematopoietic disorders in which the immune-mediated pathogenetic mechanisms are under investigation. Overrepresentation of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DR2 and its serologic split HLA-DR15 has been associated with low-risk MDS in certain ethnic groups and has been proposed as a predictive factor for a favorable response to immunomodulatory treatment. Because the HLA-DRB1*15 haplotype does not predominate in the Greek population, we investigated the frequency of HLA-DRB1 alleles among 114 patients of Greek origin suffering from various types of MDS: 36 refractory anemia (RA), 24 refractory anemia with ringed sideroblasts (RARS), 19 refractory anemia with excess of blasts (RAEB), 14 refractory anemia with excess of blasts in transformation (RAEB-t), 14 chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, and 7 hypoplastic MDS patients. HLA-DRB1 molecular typing was performed with polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific oligonucleotides and results were compared with that from a previously reported control Greek population. HLA-DRB1*1602 was the only allele that was significantly overrepresented in Greek MDS patients as a whole, whereas HLA-DRB1*1501 allele frequency was significantly higher in Greek patients with low-risk myelodysplasia. Our results suggest the possible value of HLA-DR15 and HLA-DR16 as determinants for immunomodulatory interventions, at least for Greek patients with low-risk MDS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Hematology, Athens Regional General Hospital G. Gennimatas, Athens 11527, Greece.
authors.forename: Elpiniki
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kritikou-Griva
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Spyropoulou-Vlachou
authors.forename: Nikolaos J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Tsagarakis
authors.forename: Eleni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Goumakou
authors.forename: Vasiliki
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vrani
authors.forename: Athanasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Galanopoulos
authors.forename: Stefanos I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Papadhimitriou
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Androutsos
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Paterakis
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stavropoulos-Giokas
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D006115:Greece; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology; D057089:Pathology, Molecular; D011379:Prognosis; D012306:Risk
chemical_list: D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; C489631:HLA-DRB1*15:01 antigen