HLA system and some neoplastic diseases

Using the NIH two-phase microlymphocytotoxic test, lymphocytes of patients and control subjects were typed for HLA antigens of A and B loci: A1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 11, 28 (or Aw 19, A30, 31), B5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 21, w22, 27, 35, 40. Patients tested: 1. 75 patients with Wilms' tumour, thereof 35 had their whole families tested, 2. 20 patients with neuroblastoma, 3. 26 patients with neurofibromatosis, thereof 21 had their whole families tested, 4. 166 patients with testicular germinal tumours and 41 children with germinal tumours of diverse localization, 5. 48 individuals with haemangioma, 6. 64 women with breast cancer and 50 with dysplasia. We investigated 490 patients and, with the addition of family studies, another 193 individuals, altogether 683 persons. The results were compared with a group of 301 healthy non-related persons or with a group of 116 healthy non-related men, or with 100 healthy women and, in the family studies, with members of 47 healthy three-member families with healthy children. The chi 2 test with a Yates correction or also Fisher's exact test were used for the purpose. The resultant p was corrected using multiplication by the number of the antigens typed. In some cases we used the relative risk (RR) value. The results can be summed up in the following seven points: 1. Wilms' tumour was found to have no significant association either in our population or family studies. The latter seem to testify rather against this tumour's linkage with HLA. Our study was inconclusive as to the significance of the more frequent incidence of HLA-A1 and/or A9 in the diseased children of those families where one of the parents had at least one of those antigens. It cannot be ruled out as a sign of better prognosis. We regards as indispensable the typing of HLA antigens in patients with Wilms' tumour coincident with an inborn anomaly, as well as in members of those patients' families, and also a conclusive elucidation of the possible association with HLA-A1 and/or A9. No other centre has as yet undertaken any family studies. Consequently our possibilities of comparison with other teams' results were meagre. 2. We point to the possible conceivable relationship between neuroblastoma and HLA-B13. We found this association, albeit non-significant after correction, potentially important, especially after comparisons with the results of an only other existing study.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)