Association of HLA-DR5 with the occurrence of Hodgkin's disease in a New York City population

Evidence for an association between the occurrence of Hodgkin's disease and certain class II MHC antigens has been obtained in a Metropolitan New York City population primarily consisting of individuals of Jewish and Eastern Mediterranean ancestry. Positive typing for the DR5 specificity was found in 65.9 per cent of 44 people with Hodgkin's disease and in 36.0 per cent of ethnically matched control individuals (relative risk = 3.4, p = 0.001). The frequency of DRw52 (MT2) was also increased in the disease group. A strong correlation (p<0.001) was found between the incidence rates of Hodgkin's disease in different ethnic groups, notably those of this study, and the frequencies of HLA-DR5 in these same ethnic groups, supporting the hypothesis that genes linked to haplotypes with HLA-DR5 may influence susceptibility to Hodgkin's disease.