Immunological analysis of the specificity of the autologous humoral response in breast cancer patients.

The autologous and allogeneic immunological humoral response of breast cancer patients to breast tumours was investigated by ELISA assay of both the serum and the supernatants of transformed lymphocytes from the patients and controls. No specificity or increased titre relative to the controls was observed in serum antibody. However, when the response was dissected by the use of clones of transformed lymphocytes from the patients, considerable specificity could be demonstrated in certain clones while other clones showed a generalised specificity which contributed to the masking of the specific response in the serum. Some of these clones may have clinical potential as diagnostic and prognostic tools.