Changes in median ages at death from selected cancer types in relation to HLA-DRB1/DQB1

The median ages at death from cancers between 1985 and 2005 were calculated to demonstrate that inherent anticancer mechanisms may be a common pathway for different cancers. Seventy-eight patients with gastric, liver and lung cancers, were recruited in the solid cancer group. The leukemia group consisted of 31 patients with three main types of leukemia. The controls were 100 healthy individuals. The samples were typed using an HLA-DR/DQ PCR-SSP typing kit. The results showed that the median ages at death from all causes were 64.7 years in 1985 and 70.1 years in 2005. The range of the median ages at death from all cancers was similar to the corresponding value for deaths attributed to all causes. The frequency of DRB1*03 was 9.6% in the solid cancer group and 3.0% in the control group (p<0.05). The frequency of DRB1*04 in the leukemia group were significantly lower than that of the control (p<0.05). DRB1*13 and DQB1*06 frequencies in the leukemia group were significantly higher than those of the controls (p<0.05). It is suggested that inherent anti-cancer mechanisms may be a common pathway for different cancers and are associated with the immune system and HLA.