Secretor status and oral cancer.

A prospective study was undertaken of 100 Sri Lankan patients with oral cancer and an equal number of age and sex matched control individuals. Each subject's secretor status was established from samples of appropriately prepared whole saliva using a haemagglutination technique. No significant differences were recorded in the distribution of secretors or non-secretors between the patient and control groups. In contrast to studies of Caucasians with potentially malignant oral lesions such as candidal leukoplakia in which non-secretor status predominates, secretor status does not appear to be an associated risk marker for the development for oral cancer in a selected Sri Lankan population.