Immunologic Studies of Human Breast Cancer. I. Serum Reactivity Against a Lymphoid Cell Line (Belev) Derived From a Breast Cancer Patient as Detected by Complement-Fixation Test<xref ref-type="fn" rid="FN1">2</xref><xref ref-type="fn" rid="FN2">3</xref>

Abstract

Sera from patients with breast cancer and other types of tumors were examined for complement-fixing antibodies to antigens associated with the human Belev cell line, a continuous culture established from the pleural effusion obtained from a female with breast cancer. Of the breast cancer patients, 45% gave positive serologic results against Belev antigen(s) as compared to 13% of patients with other breast diseases and 5% of normal controls. Sixteen percent of sera from patients with other forms of carcinoma demonstrated reactivity against Belev antigen preparations. Low reactivity of all sera against an antigen prepared from 3 human lymphoid cell lines containing at least 12 major histocompatibility antigens, and from antigen preparations of phytohemagglutinin-stimulated normal human lymphocytes was observed. The tenfold increase of reactivity in sera of breast cancer patients over ,the normal population against the Belev antigen(s), coupled with the low reactivity of these sera against the control antigen preparations, suggests that the antibodies detected may be reacting against tumor-associated antigens of the Belev cells.