Analysis of serum ErbB-2 protein and HLA-DRB1 in Japanese patients with lung cancer

We investigated the relationship between ErbB-2 and HLA in order to clarify the clinical and genetic factors related to Japanese patients with lung cancer. Thirty-nine of the 73 lung cancer patients (53.4%) had elevated levels of ErbB-2. Only seven of 23 (30.4%) patients with small cell carcinoma had elevated ErbB-2 levels. The prevalence of ErbB-2 positivity was highest (23 of 32; 71.8%) in patients with adenocarcinoma, while that in patients with squamous cell carcinoma was 50% (9 of 18). The frequencies of HLA A33, B44, B62, and B75 were lower in the lung cancer patients than in the control group. HLA-DR9 was higher in frequency in lung cancer patients than in the healthy controls ( P