Allergies Linked to Lower Brain Cancer Rate in Study

Allergies Linked to Lower Brain Cancer Rate in Study
If you suffer from allergies, take heart: Researchers say you may be less likely to develop a tough-to-treat brain cancer, possibly because your immune system is on high alert.

It's not clear how this knowledge might improve prevention or treatment of brain cancer, but the study's lead author said the findings pave the way for further research.

"We need to do more studies to really get at that underlying mechanism. Then we might be able to do things that would influence people who might have a higher risk or may have a family history," said Bridget J. McCarthy, a research associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The lesions studied are known as gliomas, the most common type of adult brain tumor. They account for more than half of the 18,000-plus malignant brain tumors diagnosed in the United States every year, according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute.