SECRETOR STATUS AND ORAL-CANCER

A prospective study was undertaken of 100 Sri Lankan patients with ora l cancer and an equal number of age and sex matched control individual s. Each subject's secretor status was established from samples of appr opriately prepared whole saliva using a haemagglutination technique. N o significant differences were recorded in the distribution of secreto rs or non-secretors between the patient and control groups. In contras t to studies of Caucasians with potentially malignant oral lesions suc h as candidal leukoplakia in which non-secretor status predominates, s ecretor status does not appear to be an associated risk marker for the development for oral cancer in a selected Sri Lankan population.