Complex HLA association in paraneoplastic cerebellar ataxia with anti-Yo antibodies

Anti-Yo paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (PCD) is a devastating autoimmune complication of gynecological cancers. We hypothesized that as for other autoimmune diseases, specific HLA haplotypes are associated. We conducted high resolution HLA typing of Class I/Class II in 40 cases versus ethnically matched controls. Three cases with anti-Yo antibodies and peripheral neuropathy were also included. We detected protective effects of DPA1*01:03~DPB1*04:01 (OR = 0, p = 0.0008), DRB1*04:01~DQA1*03:03(OR = 0, p = 0.0016) and DPA1*01:03~DPB1*04:01 (OR = 0.35, p = 0.0047) overall. Increased DRB1*13:01~DQA1*01:03~DQB1*06:03 was also found in PCD ovarian cases (OR = 5.4, p = 0.0016). These results suggest differential genetic susceptibility to anti-Yo per cancer and with a primary HLA Class II involvement.