title: Clinicopathological features of patients with malignant mesothelioma in a multicenter, case-control study: no role for ABO-Rh blood groups.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is an aggressive tumor of mesothelial surfaces. Previous studies have observed an association between ABO blood groups and risk of certain malignancies, including pancreatic and gastric cancer; however, no information on any association with MM risk is available. The aim of this study was to investigate possible associations amoong MM clinicopathological features and ABO blood groups and Rh factor.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 252 patients with MM, the ABO blood group and Rh factor were examined and compared with the control group of 3,022,883 healthy volunteer blood donors of Turkish Red Crescent between 2004 and 2011. The relationship of blood groups with various clinicopathological features were also evaluated in the patient group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median age was 55 (range: 27-86) and 61.5% of patients were male. While 82.8% of patients had a history of exposure to asbestos, 60.7% of patients had a smoking history. Epithelioid (65.1%) was the most common histology and 18.7% of patients had mixed histology. Overall, the ABO blood group distribution of the 252 patients with MM was comparable with the general population. The median overall survival (OS) was 14 months (95% confidence interval, 11.3-16.6 months). The median OS for A, B, AB, and O were 11, 15, 16, and 15 months respectively (p=0.396). First line chemotherapy was administered to 118 patients. The median OS of patients on pemetrexed or gemcitabine was longer than patient who was not administered chemotherapy [17 months (95%CI, 11.7-22.2) vs. 9 months (95%CI, 6.9-11.0); p<0.001].
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study suggest that patients with MM can benefit from treatment with pemetrexed or gemcitabine in combination with cisplatin. We did not observe a statistically significant association between ABO blood group and risk of MM.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Güngör
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Utkan
authors.forename: Yüksel
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ürün
authors.forename: Ayten Kayi
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Cangir
authors.forename: Dalokay
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kılıç
authors.forename: Nuriye Yildirim
authors.initials: NY
authors.lastname: Özdemir
authors.forename: Derya Gokmen
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Oztuna
authors.forename: Erhan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bulut
authors.forename: Ülkü Yalçintaş
authors.initials: ÜY
authors.lastname: Arslan
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koçer
authors.forename: Şevket
authors.initials: Ş
authors.lastname: Kavukçu
authors.forename: Fikri
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: İçli
mesh_terms: D000017:ABO Blood-Group System / Q000097:blood*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003841:Deoxycytidine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D005260:Female; D005971:Glutamates / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006147:Guanine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008654:Mesothelioma / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D000068437:Pemetrexed; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012204:Rh-Hr Blood-Group System / Q000097:blood*; D014421:Turkey; D000093542:Gemcitabine
chemical_list: D000017:ABO Blood-Group System; D005971:Glutamates; D012204:Rh-Hr Blood-Group System; D000068437:Pemetrexed; D003841:Deoxycytidine; D006147:Guanine; D002945:Cisplatin; D000093542:Gemcitabine