We used DNA sequencing to define the HLA-A, B, and C alleles in 471 patients who received bone marrow from unrelated donors for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia after myeloablative conditioning therapy.
In human leukocyte antigen A*0201(+) (HLA-A*0201(+)) individuals, response after interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) was shown to be associated with the emergence of CML-specific cytotoxic T cells that recognize PR-1, a myeloblastin (MBN)-derived nonapeptide.
These results suggest that expression of HLA-A*30, DRB1*07 might imply a protective effect on CML acquisition, while B*81 might be associated with CML susceptive factors in our population.
To our knowledge this is the first study to demonstrate the epidemiologic association between HLA-A*02 and the risk of CML, and we discuss this in the context of recent immunological studies reporting data on BCR-ABL fusion peptide presentation and subsequent immune response.
In the present study, a total of 1933 unrelated donor-recipient pairs who underwent PBSC transplantation between 1999 and 2006 for acute myelogenous leukemia, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, or chronic myelogenous leukemia and received high-resolution HLA typing for HLA-A, -B, -C, -DRB1, -DQA1, and -DQB1 were included in the analysis.