HLA and nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Chinese--a further study

This paper reports the results of 8 years of HLA typing of newly diagnosed nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients among Chinese in Singapore, and compares the HLA profile of NPC cases with that of the normal Chinese population. Earlier results had indicated an association with A2 and BW46, but the heterogeneity of the earlier case series, which contained a proportion of long-term survivors, obscured other aspects of the relationship. In this paper, the risk associated with A2 (relative risk = 1.5) and BW46 (relative risk = 1.9) is confirmed, showing a much higher relative risk in the presence of both antigens, and a risk is also demonstrated for B17 (relative risk = 2.1). Relative risks of less than unity are observed for AII (relative risk = 0.5) and B13 (relative risk = 0.5). Data from family studies indicate the importance of the haplotype A2.BW46 in determining risk for NPC.