ABO blood groups and salivary gland tumors (Alabama, United States)

Studies of associations between various diseases and the ABO blood groups have shown elevated relative risks for some categories of disease. A strong association between salivary gland tumors and blood group A has been reported, but studies are few and have yielded contradictory results. To investigate this association, we conducted an epidemiologic study of salivary gland tumors diagnosed in Jefferson Country, Alabama (United States), 1968-89. All tumors were histologically confirmed. Blood group information was obtained for 200 individuals with salivary gland tumors, and the distribution of ABO and Rh blood type for cases was compared with that of 52,118 healthy blood donors from the same geographic area. The 38.5 percent of salivary gland tumors in cases with blood group A was similar to the 39.0 percent observed for controls (P = 0.95). No differences were observed when benign and malignant tumors were considered separately, nor for any of the major histologic types of tumor. The distribution of Rh factor among cases and controls also did not differ significantly (P = 0.08).

Smoking predisposes to parotid adenolymphoma

Of 574 patients with previously untreated, unremarkable parotid lumps, 194 proved to have pleomorphic adenomas and 73 adenolymphomas. ABO blood group details were available in 59 and 85 per cent of patients respectively. Smoking details were available in 84 per cent of a randomly chosen 46 per cent subgroup of patients with pleomorphic adenomas and in 86 per cent of all those with adenolymphomas. The incidences of smoking and of the ABO blood groups in these two diagnoses were compared with standard sources. There was no evidence that either histological diagnosis of parotid tumours was linked to an abnormal pattern of ABO blood groups. However, there was a much greater incidence of smoking among the adenolymphoma than in the pleomorphic adenoma group: only one of 63 patients with adenolymphoma as opposed to 31 of 75 with pleomorphic adenoma had never smoked, while the mean number of cigarettes smoked by each patient with an adenolymphoma was estimated to be 300,000 as opposed to 80,000 for those with pleomorphic adenoma.

The occurrence of blood group substances (A, B, H, Le-a, Le-b) in salivary glands and salivary gland tumors. An immunohistochemical investigation

The distribution of blood group substances A, B, H, Le-a and Le-b in normal and neoplastic salivary gland tissue was evaluated by means of immunohistochemistry. The serological ABH blood group status of one third of the patients was known. Lewis blood group and secretory status were not known. In normal tissue, expression of blood group antigens corresponded to the serological blood group. Blood group substance H was present in almost every gland, regardless of the serological blood group. In submandibular glands, Le-b was rather selective for mucous acini. In tumors, a relationship of blood group expression to a glandular pattern and a high differentiation could be observed. Blood group substances were expressed at a high level in benign and highly differentiated malignant tumors. In poorly differentiated malignant tumors, they were mostly absent. Blood group expression evaluation could be of value in establishing the level of functional differentiation in salivary gland tumors.