IMMUNOGENETIC FACTORS IN HPV‐ASSOCIATED CERVICAL CANCER: INFLUENCE ON DISEASE PROGRESSION

Abstract
No HLA allele or specificity was significantly different in frequency between a group of 150 cervical cancer patients from north-west England and controls (corrected P values). HLA-DRB 1*1501/DQB 1*0602 was non-significantly increased, particularly among patients with HPV16-positive tumours. HLA-B7-positive patients had a significantly poorer clinical outcome than HLA-B7-negative patients. A significant component of the genotypic effect is down-regulation of HLA-B7 expression by the tumour cells.