The relationship between nasopharyngeal carcinoma and the HL-A system among Tunisians

Previous reports have demonstrated an association between the HL-A system and risk for nasopharyngeal carcinoma among the Chinese in Singapore. The present paper describes an investigation of HL-A profiles among NPC cases and non-NPC controls from Tunisia, to determine whether a similar association occurs in a different ethnic group. A total of 109 NPC cases and 84 controls were typed. At the second HL-A locus the results were similar to those found in Singapore, but the effect was less marked and did not reach high statistical significance. At the first HL-A locus, no association between A2 and NPC was found, in contrast to the Singapore results.