Preventive role of atopy in lung cancer.

Incidence of atopic disease, serum and sputum IgE, and sputum IgA levels were studied in lung cancer patients, and compared with those in lung benign disease patients and normal controls. A significantly lower prevalence of personal atopic history was observed in the cancer group in comparison with the other two experimental groups. Patients with lung cancer showed significantly higher serum IgE levels than benign-disease and normal control individuals. At the same time, patients with epidermoid lung carcinoma had significantly increased levels of serum IgE and sputum IgA than those with lung adenocarcinoma.