ABSTRACT
Saliva and serum lysozyme, immunoglobulin and total protein levels were studied in twenty patients with cancer of the head or neck before, during and after radiotherapy and compared with those of a group of non-irradiated non cancer control patients. The mean value of salivary lysozyme and total protein concentration were significantly higher in cancer patients before radiotherapy when compared to control group. During radiotherapy, the concentration of all protein components assayed increased while the saliva itself decreased by xerostomia. There was no significant difference between the mean serum lysozyme levels of the cancer and control groups. The mean serum immunoglobulin concentrations in the cancer patients before radiotherapy were significantly higher than those in the control group. During radiotherapy there was a decrease in the mean serum total protein and immunoglobulin levels which returned back near to the pretreatment values after stopping the therapy