Table 2.

Relationship among cancer, reported allergies, IgE (UI/ml), and cytokine (pg/ml) concentration.

	Characteristic	IgE		IL-2		IL-4		IL-17		IL-1β		TGF-β
		Median	p	Median	p	Median	p	Median	p	Median	p	Median	p
Group	Control	192.7	0.158	52.0	0.139	31.9	0.005	573.9	0.001	7.3	0.060	495.9	0.000
	Cancer	93.7		66.3		23.6		373.7		5.3		969.8
Reported allergies	Absent	108.8	0.690	58.6	0.561	28.7	0.119	404.2	0.075	5.4	0.772	737.1	0.605
	Present	54.1		58.0		31.1		540.0		5.5		750.0
Tumor type	Control	192.7	–	52.0	–	31.9	–	573.9	–	7.3	–	495.9	–
	Prostate	96.5	0.191	52.7	0.837	12.4	0.001	492.4	0.034	4.2	0.012	1193.5	0.001
	HNSCC	188.6	0.766	86.7	0.005	25.0	0.045	235.5	0.001	6.5	0.635	659.5	0.071
	Stomach	34.3	0.065	58.1	0.511	26.7	0.046	404.2	0.004	5.3	0.049	1107.0	0.001
Staging General Cancer	Control	192.7	–	52.0	–	31.9	–	573.9	–	7.3	–	495.9	–
	I	12.1	0.045	74.7	0.265	31.2	0.974	319.8	0.053	9.2	0.839	722.7	0.819
	II	51.9	0.052	46.0	0.773	25.1	0.043	436.1	0.029	4.5	0.041	926.7	0.019
	III	77.3	0.244	69.7	0.113	25.5	0.008	420.4	0.002	5.0	0.029	1301.5	0.000
	IV	188.6	0.555	86.7	0.092	20.4	0.014	286.0	0.001	5.6	0.319	810.4	0.026

Kruskal–Wallis test. Comparisons in relation to the Control Group, or to the Reported Allergies Absent Subgroup. Values are presented as median. Groups: Control (n = 20) and General Cancer (n = 60), that was the sum of three subgroups: Prostate (n = 20), HNSCC (n = 20), and Stomach (n = 20) Cancer. Reported allergies absent (n = 48) and present (n = 22). Staging General Cancer I (n = 3), II (n = 14), III (n = 23), IV (n = 20).

Abbreviations: IgE = immunoglobulin E, IL = interleukin, TGF = transforming growth factor, HNSCC = head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Staging based on AJCC Cancer Staging Manual, 8th ed.⁴³.