AN INCREASED RISK OF CERVICAL INTRAEPITHELIAL NEOPLASIA GRADE II-III AMONG HUMAN-PAPILLOMAVIRUS POSITIVE PATIENTS WITH THE HLA-DQA1-ASTERISK-0102-DQB1-ASTERISK-0602 HAPLOTYPE - A POPULATION-BASED CASE-CONTROL STUDY OF NORWEGIAN WOMEN

Several recent studies have reported different associations between HL A specificities and human papillomavirus (HPV)associated disease of th e cervix. We report the distribution of DQA1 and DQB1 genes and HPV in fection in a population-based case-control study including 92 patients with histologically verified cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade II-III (CIN II-III) (thus including moderate and severe dysplasia and carcinoma in situ) and 225 control subjects. We found an overrepresen tation of the DQA10102-DQB1*0602 haplotype among HPV-positive cases c ompared with controls. The association was even stronger when comparin g HPV-16-positive cases with HPV-16-positive controls. In addition, am ong HPV-16-positive individuals, we observed a decreased frequency of DQA10102-DQB1*0604 in cases compared with controls, We were not able to detect any association between CIN II-III and DQB103, Compared wit h previous findings in cervical cancer, our data indicate that carryin g the DQA10102-DQB1*0602 haplotype gives an increased risk of develop ing CIN when infected with HPV-16, without influencing progression to cancer. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.