Human Leukocyte Antigen Class I and II Alleles and Risk of Cervical Neoplasia: Results from a Population-Based Study in Costa Rica

To examine human leukocyte antigen (HLA) involvement in the development of all grades of cervical neoplasia, a nested case-control study of 10,077 women in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, was conducted. Participants had invasive cervical cancer, high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSILs; n=166), or low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSILs); were positive for human papillomavirus (HPV) with no evidence of cervical neoplasia (n=320); or were HPV negative with no evidence of cervical neoplasia but with a history of high-risk sexual behavior (n=173). Compared with women who were HPV negative, women with HLA-DRB1*1301 were associated with decreased risk for cancer/HSILs (odds ratio [OR], 0.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.2–0.7) and for LSILs/HPV (OR, 0.6; 95% CI, 0.3–0.9). Women with both HLA-B*07 and HLA-DQB1*0302 had an 8.2-fold increased risk for cancer/HSILs (95% CI, 1.8–37.2) and a 5.3-fold increased risk for LSILs/HPV (95% CI, 1.2–23.7). These results support the hypothesis that multiple risk alleles are needed in order to increase risk for cervical neoplasia, but a single protective allele may be sufficient for protection.