The association of hla-drb1 alleles and mbl2 gene variant in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients

Introduction: Epidemiologic studies on pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemias (ALL) have been conducted to evaluate the possible risk factors including genetic, infectious and environmental factors with the objective of idenfying the etiology. Mannose-binding lectin 2 (MBL2) plays an important role in first-line immunedefense.HLADRB1 alleles play a role in presentation of peptides to T cells and in activation of the adaptive immune response. Objective: In our study, we aimed to investigate both the MBL2 gene variant and HLA-DRB1 alleles in pediatric ALL patients. Materials: In this study, 86 high-risk ALL patients and 100 controls were included. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and PCRsequence specific primer (SSP) methods were used for detection of polymorphism of the MBL2andHLA-DRB1alleles, respectively. Results: The frequency of the MBL2 AB genotype was lower in female ALL patients, compared to male ALL patients (p = 0.034). An association was found between the MBL2 BB genotype and DRB1*07 andamongpatientswith theMBL2BBgenotype; thosewhoalsocarried the DRB1*07 and *04 alleles were significantly higher than those without the DRB1*07 and*04 alleles. (p = 0.048, p = 0.022, respectively). Conclusion: This is the first study suggesting that the MBL2 BB genotype in association with the DRB1*07 or co-inheritance of the HLA-DRB1*04 and HLA DRB1*07 may have an impact ontheetiopathogenesis of the disease.