Epithelial isoantigens A, B and H in oral carcinomas

Abstract

Epithelial tissue isoantigens A,B and H were studied in 182 patients with oral lesions. These patients included 24 patients with premalignant leukoplakic dysplasias and 158 with oral squamous cell carcinomas of various sites in the oral cavity. Loss of isoantigen was seen in 33.33% of patients with leukoplakias and 36.23% of those with carcinomas. The test was found to be negative in all patients showing regional lymph node or distant metastases. The present study indicates that the test can be usefully employed in the evoluation of oral malignancy, its early immunologic diagnosis and as a guide to prognosis in followup studies.