Human leukocyte antigens and immunoglobulin allotypes in head and neck cancer patients with and without multiple primary tumors

✍ Scribed by Nico De Vries; Hemmo A. Drexhage; Leo P. De Waal; Gerda De Lange; Gordon B. Snow

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1987
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 427 KB
• Volume: 60
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(19870901)60:5<957::aid-cncr2820600507>3.0.co;2-b

✦ Synopsis

Human leukocyte antigens (HLA) and immunoglobulin (Ig) allotypes were examined in 98 patients with single head and neck cancers, and in 51 patients with multiple primary tumors. Immunoglobulin allotype Km (1) was present in 4% of patients with multiple primary tumors versus 21% in patients with a single head and neck cancer. The frequency of HLA-B8, HLA-DR3, and HLA-DQW2 in patients with multiple primary tumors and of HLA-B8, and HLA-B45 in patients with a single head and neck cancer increased significantly as compared with the control population. Those data suggest genetic influences -next to environmental factors-on the pathogenesis of multiple primary tumors in head and neck squamous cancer. It might be worthwhile to use HLA typing and Ig allotyping in the selection of patients in whom aggressive screening for second tumors is mandatory.

Cancer 60:957-961, 1987.

OBACCO AND ALCOHOL-respectively as carcinogen

T and promoting factor-are involved in the pathogenesis of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck with or without multiple primary tumors.'-'' However, this disease entity occurs also in nonsmokers.' '

Considerably less is known about the influence of genetic factors. Interest in early detection of multiple primary tumors is increasing, since survival rates have become relatively more determined by distant metastases and second prim a r i e ~. ' ~-' ~ Although panendoscopy is used in the initial workup of head and neck cancer patients, adequate screening for second tumors in the follow-up period is laclung, whereas most second tumors occur metachron o ~s l y . ' ~ Therefore, methods for selection of high-risk patients are needed.

Recently we showed that in a limited series of head and neck cancer patients with multiple primary tumors the immunoglobulin kappa light chain allotype Km (1)