Serum levels of immunological parameters (IAP, PHA-induced lymphocyte transformation, lymphocyte subpopulations, NK cell activity) and squamous cell carcinoma-related-antigen (SCC-antigen) were measured in 185 patients with head and neck cancers and 28 patients with nonmalignant diseases. The levels of IAP and SCC-antigen in head and neck cancer patients were significantly higher than levels in patients with non-malignant diseases (p<0.01), and correlated well with the progression of clinical stages. No significant differences were observed in the results of PHA-induced lymphocyte transformation, lymphocyte subpopulations and NK cell activity between the patients with head and neck cancer and the patients with non-malignant disease. In contrast, the results of all parameters tended to worsen when the cancer patients entered into poor condition. These results indicated the importance to evaluate immunocompetence of head and neck cancer patients using several immunoparameters.
