Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 May 4;12(1):7235.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-11366-7.

Immunogenetic clustering of 30 cancers

Lisa M James  1   2   3 , Apostolos P Georgopoulos  4   5   6   7
Affiliations

Immunogenetic clustering of 30 cancers

Lisa M James et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes have been implicated in cancer risk and shared heritability of different types of cancer. In this immunogenetic epidemiological study we first computed a Cancer-HLA profile for 30 cancer types characterized by the correlation between the prevalence of each cancer and the population frequency of 127 HLA alleles, and then used multidimensional scaling to evaluate the possible clustering of those Cancer-HLA associations. The results indicated the presence of three clusters, broadly reflecting digestive-skin-cervical cancers, reproductive and endocrine systems cancers, and brain and androgen-associated cancers. The clustering of cancer types documented here is discussed in terms of mechanisms underlying shared Cancer-HLA associations.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Multidimensional scaling (MDS) configuration map of the 30 cancer types with color-coded clusters of cancer types. Each point denotes the location of a cancer type within the 2-dimensional MDS configuration space. The clusters were derived by applying a K-means clustering algorithm on the x–y MDS coordinates of the cancer types. The distance between two points (cancer types) is a measure of similarity of the immunogenetic profiles of two cancers, where each such profile consisted of 127 protection/susceptibility (P/S) HLA estimates for each cancer type.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Immunogenetic P/S estimates for multiple myeloma are plotted against those for kidney cancer. r is the Pearson correlation coefficient; P < 0.001; N = 127.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Immunogenetic P/S estimates for pancreatic cancer are plotted against those for ovarian cancer. P < 0.001; N = 127.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Immunogenetic P/S estimates for prostate cancer are plotted against those for melanoma. P < 0.001; N = 127.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Immunogenetic P/S estimates for the cancer of larynx cancer are plotted against those for the cancer of bladder. P < 0.001; N = 127.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Immunogenetic P/S estimates for colorectal cancer are plotted against those for the cancer of gallbladder. P < 0.001; N = 127.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Immunogenetic P/S estimates for mesothelioma are plotted against those for esophageal cancer. P < 0.001; N = 127.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Immunogenetic P/S estimates for mesothelioma are plotted against those for melanoma. P < 0.001; N = 127.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Sung H, Ferlay J, Siegel RL, et al. Global cancer statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J. Clin. 2021;71:209–249. doi: 10.3322/caac.21660. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lewandowska AM, Rudzki M, Rudzki S, Lewandowski T, Laskowska B. Environmental risk factors for cancer-review paper. Ann. Agric. Environ. Med. 2019;26:1–7. doi: 10.26444/aaem/94299. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Amundadottir LT, Thorvaldsson S, Gudbjartsson DF, et al. Cancer as a complex phenotype: Pattern of cancer distribution within and beyond the nuclear family. PLoS Med. 2004;1(3):e65. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0010065. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kerber RA, O'Brien E. A cohort study of cancer risk in relation to family histories of cancer in the Utah population database. Cancer. 2005;103(9):1906–1915. doi: 10.1002/cncr.20989. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sampson JN, Wheeler WA, Yeager M, et al. Analysis of heritability and shared heritability based on genome-wide association studies for 13 cancer types. J. Natl. Cancer. 2015;107(12):djv279. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djv279. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types