Allergy and tumour outcome after primary cancer therapy

Over the last decade several papers have dealt with the possible interference of allergies in both the infectious disease incidence and tumour development. In the light of all these observations we analysed several tumour patients for a possible interaction between a state of allergy and tumour development and progression after primary cancer therapy.

This study included 1,055 patients with different types of solid tumours admitted consecutively between 1994 and 2002 to the Cagliari University Polyclinic. After primary surgery or medical therapy (or both), 92 allergic subjects and 182 non-allergic patients were studied over a follow-up period of 6-96 months (median 23).

Among 1,055 tumour-bearing patients, the prevalence of allergy was found to be about 8% versus 16-37% in a population of non-tumour-bearing subjects. After primary cancer therapy, allergic patients turned out to have a 20% higher probability of being cured and about a 50% lower risk of tumour progression as compared to non-allergic ones. The observed differences were statistically significant (p=0.013).

On the basis of our findings, we suggest that allergic subjects seem to have a better prognosis than non-allergic ones for disease outcome after cancer therapy.