Analysis of HLA-DRB1 alleles in Japanese patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia.

To clarify the association between HLA-DRB1 alleles and chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), the HLA-DRB1 allele frequencies in 50 Japanese patients each with b2a2 and b3a2 CML and 127 healthy Japanese individuals were examined. In the patients with b2a2 CML, the frequencies of HLA-DRB10405, DRB108032, and DRB11502 were low and that of HLA-DRB11201 was high in comparison with the healthy individuals. The frequencies of HLA-DRB10403, DRB10802, DRB11403, and DRB11405 were high, and those of HLA-DRB108032 and DRB11501 were low in the patients with b3a2 CML. The present results suggest positive and negative associations between certain HLA-DRB1 alleles and CML.