Serum cold agglutinin and IgM levels in breast carcinoma.

Breast carcinoma (BCa) cells produce I antigen or I antigen-like substances that may influence serum anti-I. We determined cold hemagglutinins in 170 BCa patients, 97 women with benign breast disease, and 37 female controls of comparable ages to the patients. The results were expressed as an anti-I score. Serum IgM was measured by radial immunodiffusion. The data for the BCa patients were analyzed by pathologic stage (PS) and histologic category. The anti-I score for PS III (28.1 +/- 13.0; mean +/- S.D.) was higher (p less than 0.02), and that for PS IV (11.4 +/- 7.4) lower (p less than 0.02) than the control value (17.7 +/- 10.2). IgM concentrations of the BCa patients as a group or by PS were similar to those of the controls. The mean anti-I scores were higher in mucinous (31.1 +/- 14.9, p less than 0.001) and apocrine BCa (28.6 +/- 16.2, p less than 0.02) compared to the control value. IgM concentrations were elevated in mucinous (218.1 +/- 85.8 mg/dl, p less than 0.01) and apocrine BCa (241.9 +/- 99.0, p less than 0.005) compared to the control value (157.1 +/- 66.9). The results suggest an association of anti-I scores and PS of BCa and suggest an antigenic difference of mucinous and apocrine from infiltrative ductal BCa.