Immune response of prostatic cancer patients to cytomegalovirus-infected and -transformed human cells.

The indirect immunofluorescent test was used to determine the prevalence of humoral immunity to cytomegalovirus (CMV)-induced antigens in prostatic cancer patients as compared to age-matched controls. Significantly more prostatic cancer patients demonstrated high CMV-antibody titers than did the benign prostatic hyperplasia and nonurogenital cancer groups; however, no significant difference in reactivity was found between paients with prostatic cancer and transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder. When screened against CMV-transformed human cell lines, the reactivity of the sera followed the rate of expression of CMV-related antigens of cell lines used in these tests.