Prevalence of the rhesus‐negative phenotype in caucasian patients with small‐cell lung cancer (SCLC)

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
We report that the Rhesus (Rh)‐negative phenotype is more prevalent in patients with small‐cell lung cancer (SCLC) than in the normal Caucasian population (SCLC: 25% Rh‐negative vs. 15% expected, p < 0.0001). This finding has been validated for a Central and a Northern European population (Switzerland and UK). In contrast, the Rh‐negative phenotype is no more frequent in non‐small‐cell lung cancer patients or in heavy smokers with coronary heart disease than in the general population. There was a normal distribution of the ABO blood group phenotype in all patients studied. Whilst the significance of this observation is unclear, we hypothesize that a genetic predisposition to the development of SCLC may be linked to a hitherto unidentified gene on chromosome 1 p near the Rh locus. Our observation may perhaps allow further progress to be made in understanding genetic mechanisms of SCLC carcinogenesis.