Immunoglobulin G heavy-chain allotypes as possible genetic markers for human cancer

Serum samples from 343 unrelated, healthy Japanese, 194 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive healthy carriers, 96 patients with primary hepatoma, 91 patients with lung cancer, 94 patients with breast cancer, and 87 patients with gastric cancer were examined for IgG heavy-chain allotypes (Gm). The Gm phenotypes of the sera from patients with breast cancer exhibited a distribution similar to that of the normal controls. However, compared to that of normal controls, the Gm phenotype (1,2,21,13,15,16) was significantly increased in the patients with primary hepatoma(chi 2 (1) = 15.12, corrected P less than 0.01) and in the patients with lung cancer (chi 2 (1) = 10.97, corrected P less than 0.05). Compared to that of normal controls, the haplotype Gm 1,2,21 was significantly increased in the patients with primary hepatoma (chi 2 (1) = 22.34, corrected P less than 0.01). Increased frequency of Gm 1,2,21 in primary hepatoma was also significant compared to that of HBsAg-positive healthy carriers (chi 2 (1) = 9.25, corrected P less than 0.05).