Blood groups, secretor status and salivary Lewis, Lewis and 19.9 antigen levels in alcoholics and ethnic origin-matched controls.

Blood group and secretor status were determined in 89 heavy drinkers receiving outpatient treatment at a district general hospital in north-west London, and compared with 89 age-, sex- and ethnic origin-matched controls drawn from a panel of 1700 patients from a contiguous general practice. There were no significant differences in the distribution of ABO types and secretor status in the two groups. Differences in salivary mucins were investigated by assaying levels of sialylated and non-sialylated Lewis antigens and blood group antigens ABH in both patients and controls. Although there were no differences in the mean antigen levels for H, A, B Le(a) and Le(b) antigens, using the monoclonal antibody 19.9 (to sialylated Lewis(a) antigen), higher levels were found for groups O and B/AB non-secretors and for group A secretors in alcoholics compared with controls. In addition, inappropriate Le(a) and 19.9 immuno-reactivities were detected in the saliva samples of a group O Le(a)-b- secretor alcoholic and a group A Le(a)-b- secretor alcoholic, respectively. It is suggested that these changes in glycosylation of salivary proteins relate to the increased parotid gland cell proliferation known to occur in chronic alcoholics.