title: Family history of cancer, mutagen sensitivity, and increased risk of head and neck cancer.
abstract: To evaluate individual cancer susceptibility, 170 previously untreated patients with pathologically-confirmed squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx, and 175 age- and sex-matched health controls were investigated for the occurrence of cancer in first-degree relatives along with other established risk factors for head and neck cancer. More than 54% of these subjects were assayed for mutagen sensitivity by quantifying in-vitro bleomycin-induced chromosomal breaks within peripheral blood lymphocytes. After adjusting for age, gender, education, family income, tobacco and alcohol consumption, the odds ratio associated with three or more first-degree relatives with cancer at any site was 3.79 (95% CI 0.9-15.9) with a linearly-increased trend in risk (P = 0.040). Significantly elevated risk was found to be associated with a history of cancer within siblings (OR = 2.61, 1.2-5.6, P = 0.014). Patients with a family cancer history and mutagen sensitivity were at greatest risk (OR = 7.88, 2.5-25.3, P = 0.005), indicating an additive interactive effect. The findings suggested that genetic familial influence is important in the causation of head and neck cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, New York, NY 10003, USA.
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Z F
authors.initials: ZF
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: T C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Spitz
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Schantz
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001761:Bleomycin / Q000633:toxicity; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009153:Mutagens / Q000633:toxicity*; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D009153:Mutagens; D001761:Bleomycin