Examination of the phenotype frequencies of specific peptide-binding pocket residues demonstrated that significant associations with childhood ALL susceptibility were almost exclusively restricted to those peptide motifs present in DPB1*02:01; with significantly different associations for total leukemias, total ALL, common ALL, TEL-AML1+ ALL, and high-hyperdiploid ALL, compared to controls. This evidence concerns the gene HLA-DPB1 and acute lymphoblastic leukemia.