Immunofluorescence studies on sera of patients with breast carcinoma

Abstract

Indirect immunofluorescence tests were carried out on sera of 42 patients with breast carcinoma, 4 with fibrocystic disease, and 45 blood bank donors. Thirty‐one of the 46 sera showed positive reaction which consisted of faint nucleolar and strong cytoplasmic fluorescence in cells of tissue cultures derived from either 1 breast carcinoma, 1 case of fibrocystic disease, or 2 osteosarcomas. Sera of 3 breast cancer patients reacted with breast cancer cells only; sera of 6 breast cancer patients and of 1 with fibrocystic disease reacted with fibrocystic disease cells only; sera of 7 breast cancer patients reacted with breast cancer and fibrocystic disease cells; and sera of 3 breast cancer patients reacted with cells of breast cancer, fibrocystic disease, and osteosarcoma. Sera of 2 breast cancer patients reacted with cells of breast cancer and osteosarcoma, and sera of 5 breast cancer patients and of 2 with fibrocystic disease reacted with cells of fibrocystic disease and osteosarcoma. Sera of a small number of patients with osteosarcoma reacted with fibrocystic disease, and osteosarcoma cells and sera of these patients reacted also with breast cancer cells. None of the sera tested reacted with cells of the following cultures: giant cell tumor, rhabdomyosarcoma, Levine‐3 cell line, HEK‐1‐HRLV (human embryo kidney culture producing Rauscher leukemia virus), normal human embryo, and human adult skin. All sera from blood bank donors were negative with cells of all cultures tested. Absorption experiments with some of the positive sera indicate that the fluorescence reaction may be due to a tumor antigen. Copyright © 1971 American Cancer Society