[The role of alpha-1-antitrypsin in patients with laryngeal carcinoma]

Alpha-1-antitrypsin was elevated in patients with laryngeal and hypopharyngeal carcinoma and this increase positively correlated with the tumor size. Surgery and radiotherapy (preoperative or primary) caused a statistically significant increase in the activity of this antienzyme. Possibility the inability of the alpha-1-antitrypsin to reactively increase is responsible for the malignant development of some laryngeal tumors which appear relatively benign according to histological findings and their spread. The reactive increase of the alpha-1-antitrypsin is prognostically more important than its momentary blood level. These investigations confirmed the complexity of malignant tumors in not only their development but also their course. The alpha-1-antitrypsin - the inhibitor of the proteolytic enzyme - is one of the factors in the development of the tumor and particularly in its propagation.