[HLA system antigens in Hodgkin's disease in children]

The authors investigated HLA antigens in 11 children treated of Hodgkin's disease and compared them with 540 healthy nonrelated persons. Antigens HLA-A2, HLA-A9 and HLA-A10 were found in 5 treated children (45.4%). Antigen HLA-B5 was found in 4 children (33.4%). Antigen HLA-Bw16 was found in three patients (27.2%) which is much higher percentage than that of the control group. Haplotype A10-Bw16 which had not been found in the control group was present in two patients. Four patients (36,3%) had antigen HLA-B5 in localized form (I and II clinical stage). Four children (36,3%) had antigen HLA-A10 but only in histologic type of the lymphocytic predomination. Due to the small number of the investigated patients it was not possible to draw a definite conclusion on whether there is a significant occurence of certain antigens of the HLA system in children treated of Hodgkin's disease.