Human leukocyte antigen G polymorphism is associated with an increased risk of invasive cancer of the uterine cervix.

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-G acts as negative regulator of the immune responses and its expression in tumor cells may enable them to escape immunosurveillance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of HLA-G polymorphism on risk of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (HG-CIN) and cervical cancer in a Canadian population. The authors have analyzed 1,372 women from participants recruited between 2001 and 2009 in the ongoing Biomarkers of Cervical Cancer Risk case-control study. A total of 539 women with histologically confirmed HG-CIN and invasive cancer formed the case series, and 833 women with normal cytology served as controls. Cervical specimens were tested for human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA using the MY09/11 PCR protocol and HLA-G alleles where determined using a direct DNA sequencing procedures. HLA-G polymorphisms were not associated with HG-CIN or HPV infection. However, the risk for invasive cancer was significantly increased with the homozygous genotypes HLA-G*01:01:02 [odds ratio (OR) = 3.52, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.43-8.61, p = 0.006], -G*01:06 (OR = 19.1, 95% CI: 2.29-159, p = 0.005) and -G* 3'UTR 14-bp insertion (OR = 2.17, 95% CI: 1.10-4.27, p = 0.020), whereas, the heterozygotic form of the G*01:01:01 wild-type allele was significantly associated with a reduced risk of invasive cancer (OR = 0.31, 95% CI: 0.16-0.59, p < 0.0001) after adjusting for age, HPV infection and ethnicity. These associations were also observed with progression of disease from HG-CIN to invasive cancer among HPV-positive women. These results suggest that HLA-G polymorphism is an independent risk factor for the development of invasive cervical cancer.