Serum levels of sex steroid and pituitary hormones in chronic alcoholics and head and neck cancer patients as compared to normal controls

Abstract

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is diagnosed mainly in male patients (more than 80% of the cases) with a history of smoking and heavy alcohol consumption. However, only a few percent of all alcoholics develop head and neck cancer. to investigate the hormonal status in HNSCC patients as compared to healthy controls and alcoholic persons in order to find changes, if any, characteristic for cancer. The liver function expressed by gamma-GT levels, the hypophysis gonadotrop hormone (FSH, LH, prolactin) and sex steroid hormone serum levels were examined in 130 male HNSCC patients, in 54 men with alcoholic liver disease but without any known cancer and in 56 healthy men as controls. When compared to the healthy controls, both alcoholics and tumor patients had abnormal liver function, testosterone, sex hormone binding globuline and prolactin levels, reflecting the presence of alcoholic liver disease in tumor patients as well. However, abnormally elevated circulating FSH (p<0.005) and LH (p<0.0003) levels were present only in the tumor patients. Sex steroid hormone abnormalities are common among head and neck cancer patients, mainly as results of the chronic alcoholic liver disease. Elevation of FSH and LH levels suggests a potential role of these hormones in the formation of head and neck cancer. The exact role of the hypothalamus-hypophysis-liver axis in the biology of head and neck cancer requires further investigations.