Haptoglobin (Hp) phenotypes were studied in 72 oesophageal and 104 gastric cancer patients and compared with 100 healthy controls to see if there is any association between oesophageal and gastric cancer and haptoglobin type. There was a significantly increased frequency of Hp 2-1 (59.7%) and Hp 2-2 (91.3%) in oesophageal and gastric cancer patients. Our results suggest that genetic factors pla...

The haptoglobin genetic locus at 16q22 is polymorphic with two known classes of alleles, denoted 1 and 2 (1 ). The polymorphism is extremely common, with worldwide frequencies of the two alleles being approximately equal. However, there is considerable geographic and ethnic variation in the distribution of haptoglobin phenotypes (1 ). Over the past 3–4 years our laboratory has demonstrated that...