THE HLA CLASS-I CML ASSOCIATION REVISITED TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE 2 FORMS OF GENE FUSION IN THE PHILADELPHIA-CHROMOSOME - A MULTICENTER STUDY

CML patients possess either a b3-a2 or a b2-a2 fusion between the BCR and ABL genes. Depending on the type of fusion, two different series o f non-self potentially immunogenic peptides may be produced. If they a re presented by HLA class I molecules and recognized by cytotoxic CD8 lymphocytes, individuals could be more susceptible or resistant to leu kemic cells bearing one or the other form of fusion according to their HLA class I phenotype. To test this point, the frequencies of HLA-A a nd HLA-B alleles were compared between b3-a2 and the b2-a2 CML patient s. In essence, no difference was found whose significance could withst and correction for multiple comparisons.