Skin testing for prognosis or therapy formulation in cancer patients: caveat emptor

Delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity to DNCB was assessed in 56 patients who had epidermoid intraoral carcinoma, prior to therapy. They were followed for 44 months, and their skin reactivity correlated well with both a small tumor size and a favorable clinical prognosis. In a significant number of cases, however, lack of reactivity did not indicate a fatal outcome. Therefore, we recommend caution in the use of any skin test data in formulating therapy. When cured cancer patients were skin-tested, there was no correlation between the state of the disease and their skin reactivity.