HLA and cancer in South African Indians

Two-hundred-and-forty-nine Indian cancer patients were tested for 39 HLA antigens and the antigen frequencies were compared with those of 603 control subjects. Comparisons were also made between cancer patients and controls for each ethnic group and for each site of cancer. There was an increase in the frequency of the HLA antigens A11 and Bw52 in patients with malignancies. Heterozygosity at the B locus was significantly increased in patients with cancer of the breast. The Aw24, B17 haplotype was also associated with breast cancer.