title: Reduced allergy and immunoglobulin E among adults with intracranial meningioma compared to controls.
abstract: Meningioma, the most frequent tumor in the central nervous system, has few recognized risk factors. We explored the role of allergies in a population-based case-control consortium study of meningioma in five geographic areas. We also studied serum levels of a marker of atopic allergy (IgE) in a subset of study participants, a first for a study on meningioma. Participants (N = 1,065) with surgically resected, pathologically confirmed meningioma and controls (N = 634) selected via random-digit dialing were recruited and interviewed. Cases were less likely than controls to report history of physician-diagnosed allergy [odds ratio (OR) = 0.64; 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 0.51-0.80]. Also, cases (N = 295) had lower total serum IgE than controls [N = 192; OR = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.75-0.98 for each unit of Ln(IgE)]. Similar to glioma and cancers at several other sites, meningioma appears to have an inverse relationship with history of allergies and a biomarker of atopic allergy. As some common opposing predisposition or developmental processes for allergy and meningioma may exist, further research into immune processes that can affect the incidence and natural history of meningioma is warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery and Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA. joe.wiemels@ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Joseph L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Wiemels
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wrensch
authors.forename: Jennette D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Sison
authors.forename: Mi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bondy
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Calvocoressi
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Black
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Joellen M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Schildkraut
authors.forename: Elizabeth B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Claus
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008577:Meningeal Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D008579:Meningioma / Q000276:immunology*; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D007073:Immunoglobulin E