title: Association of HLA antigens and BCR-ABL transcripts in leukemia patients with the Philadelphia chromosome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to verify the association between human leukocyte antigens and the bcr-abl fusion protein resulting from t(9;22)(q34;q11) in chronic leukemia myeloid and acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-seven bcr-abl positive individuals were evaluated. Typing was performed bymicrolymphocytotoxicity and molecular biological methods (human leukocyte antigens Class I and Class II). A control group was obtained from the data of potential bone marrow donors registered in the Brazilian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (REDOME).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Positive associations with HLA-A25 and HLA-B18 were found for the b2a2 transcript, as well as a tendency towards a positive association with HLA-B40 and a negative association with HLA-A68. The b3a2 transcript showed positive associations with HLA-B40 and HLA-DRB1*3.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The negative association between human leukocyte antigens and the BCR-ABL transcript suggests that binding and presentation of peptides derived from the chimeric protein are effective to increase a cytotoxic T lymphocyte response appropriate for the destruction of leukemic cells.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Santa Maria - UFSM, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Daiana Landenberger
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: de Carvalho
authors.forename: Cristian Dias
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Barbosa
authors.forename: André Luiz
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: de Carvalho
authors.forename: Sandra Trevisan
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Beck