An immunologic basis for detection of occult primary malignancies of the head and neck

After extensive evaluation of patients with metastatic neck disease and clinically undetectable primary cancer of the head and neck, the clinician is often faced with the difficult question of subsequent management. In this study, sera from 11 patients with clinically occult carcinoma and metastatic lymphadenopathy were studied for Epstein-Barr virus-associated antigens. These were compared with 35 sera from patients with known nasopharyngeal carcinoma at all stages of disease and treatment and with 212 sera from control patients with other head and neck tumors, patients with lymphoma, and normal controls. There was a significant correlation between high antibody titers to Epstein-Barr virus, especially in the serum IgA fraction, and the presence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Thus, identification of occult nasopharyngeal carcinoma by immunologic means may have important application in the selective management of the patient with an unknown head and neck primary malignancy.