Selective IgA Deficiency and Neoplasia1

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Abstract
From the Immunodeficiency Cancer Registry, it has appeared that there is an increased frequency of neoplasia in individuals who have a selective absence of serum IgA. Approaching this question from another point of view, we have found that of 4,120 sera drawn in this cancer‐oriented hospital, 12 sera had a total absence of IgA and 3 additional sera had less than 10 mg/dl. The incidence of IgA deficiency in a cancer hospital is thus 1:342 or 1:273, which is statistically similar to that previously found for other patient groups studied in the USA (average of two studies, 1:418), but it is substatistically increased over the incidence of IgA deficiency found in normal blood donors (average of five studies, 1:1,677). Analysis of these sera by diagnostic categories showed that of 1,517 sera of patients with lympho‐proliferative disorders, 6 were IgA deficient (frequency 1:253), and of 249 sera of patients with gastrointestinal neoplasm, 2 were IgA deficient (frequency 1:125). We conclude that, in the absence of IgA, certain organ systems, the gastrointestinal and lymphoid tissue may be at increased risk for malignant change and that the protective, anti‐neoplastic role of IgA requires investigation.

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