One of the most significant prognosticators in the head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is clinical stages due to its high frequency of locality even in the advanced cases. However, a host factor must be considered because of its different
biologic
behaviors, microenvironmental factors and its various host defence abilities against the tumor.
If the host defence is diminished, regional or distant metastasis and a treatment failure occurs. Therefore, the host defence can be one of the other jprognosticators.
Author analyzed 92 cases of squamous cell carcinoma in the head and neck(glottic cancer 21, supraglottic cancer 23, hypopharyngeal cancer 17, oral cavity cancer 19, and maxillary sinus cancer 12) from 1989 to 1991 in our institute.
@ES The results are as follows;
@EN 1. Serum IgA and IgE levels in patients with squamous cell carcinomas in head and neck were significantly high, compared to the control group (p<0.05), whereas serum IgG and IgM levels showed no difference. The total T lymphocyte count and
the
T4/T8
ratio in peripheral blood decreased, compared to the control group, but the activated T cell and NK cell count increased.
2. In the aneuploid group, the serum IgA level significantly increased. But the distribution of serum immunoglobulin, depending on the primary sites, histopathologic grades, clinical stages, and the presence of nodal metastasis, showed no
significant
difference, compared to the control group.
3. A recurrence after treatement was high in patients whose the IgA level increased and whose the IgE level decreased. There was no significant difference between immunoglobulin levels before and after the treatment, but the IgA inclined to
increase
markedly.
4. The 3-year disease free rate was high in cases with the decreased IgA level and the icreases IgE level.
5. There was no significant difference in the distribution of lymphocyte subset and natural killer cell, according to the DNA ploidy of tumor, clinical stages, and recurrency.
In conclusion, the humoral immunity such as serum IgA and IgE may be relatively a good prognosticator in squamous cell carcinomas in the head and neck, whereas the cellular immunity may not be a valuable prognosticator.
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