Application of isoelectric focusing for studies of major histocompatibility complex class I antigen expression on human carcinomas and sarcomas.

By one-dimension isoelectric focusing we analysed the major histocompatibility complex class I antigen expression on human tumours. Blood lymphocytes of the patients, processed in parallel, served as a basis for comparison. The prerequisite for the analysis is the preparation of metabolically active tumour cell suspensions devoid of significant leucocyte contamination. The method was found to be suitable for study of the expression of HLA alleles on ex vivo tumour cells and allowed the detection of changes imposed by in vitro treatment with interferon gamma and tumour necrosis factor alpha.