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-DRB1*0405, DRB1*08032, and DRB1*1502 were low and that of HLA-DRB1*1201 was high in comparison with the healthy individuals. The frequencies of HLA-DRB1*0403, DRB1*0802, DRB1*1403, and DRB1*1405 were high, and those of HLA-DRB1*08032 and DRB1*1501 were low in the patients with b3a2 CML. The present results suggest positive and negative associations between certain HLA-DRB1 alleles and CML.