A pilot study on Hla-G locus control region haplotypes and cervical intraepithelial neoplasias

Human papillomavirus (HPV) can induce cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (CIN) grades 1, 2 and 3. Untreated, these lesions may progress to cervical cancer (CC) which is the third most common cancer in women worldwide. HLA-G plays an immunotolerant role in the immune response. The aim of this study was to characterize the configuration of SNPs located at the distal promoter of HLA-G in patients with CIN2 and CIN3 and control women. The study sample was composed of 207 women as follows: 73 diagnosed with CIN2 lesions, 56 with CIN3 and 78 healthy control women. Genotyping was performed by sequence base typing. Eleven haplotype configurations subdivided in two main haplogroups (H1dist and H2dist), were characterized and compared between patients and controls. The haplotypes H1.1Dist (GAGAACGC) and H2.1Dist (AGGTACAC) were more frequent in Euro-Descendants as well as in Brazilian Mixed. Nevertheless, the haplotype H2.1Dist standed out as a susceptibility haplotype in Brazilian Mixed patients while the H1.1Dist presented a protector effect in this same ethnic group. Whether such LCR haplotype configurations can impact on HLA-G gene expression levels in women who developed cervical intraepithelial neoplasia is still unknown and it is of utmost importance that more investigation on this field be pursued.