NO ASSOCIATION BETWEEN HLA-DQ AND HLA-DR GENOTYPES WITH NASOPHARYNGEAL CARCINOMA IN SOUTHERN CHINESE

The pathogenesis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is multifactorial. Associations have been reported between HLA and NPC. We studied the HL A-DR and -DQ regions on the molecular level in 136 persons (51 NPC pat ients and 85 healthy controls) from southern China, a particularly hig h-prevalence area for NPC. Restriction fragment-length polymorphism (R FLP) was used to genotype the MHC class II DR beta, DQ alpha, and DQ b eta regions of the subjects. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using seq uence-specific primer (SSP) for DQ beta genes was also performed. By R FLP, no significant difference was observed with respect to DR beta, D QA, and DQB genes. By PCR SSP typing, we confirmed that there was no s ignificant difference between NPC patients and controls with respect t o DQ beta alleles. Our study suggests that HLA-DQ and -DR genes are no t associated with NPC in southern Chinese and there may be other gene loci that predispose them to have such a high prevalence of the diseas e.