Serum immunoglobulins in genitourinary malignancies.

Serum concentrations of immunoglobulins G, A and M (IgG, Ig A and IgM) were measured by immunodiffusion in a control population of 58 patients and in 165 patients with cancer of the prostate, bladder, kidney or testis. Tumor patients were ranked according to clinical staging. In a smaller group of patients serum levels of IgE were measured by radioimmunoassay. IgG, IgA and IgM concentrations did not correlate with staging or the presence of malignancy. However, a statistically significant correlation between increased IgE levels and advanced bladder cancer (staged D1 and D2) stimulated us to study more patients with bladder tumors. In a subsequent group of 22 bladder tumor patients this trend could not be reproduced. IgE levels did not correlate with a history of allergy in any of the patients tested. Concentrations of immunoglobulins G, A, M and E seem to be unchanged in genitourinary malignancies, although their functional role here has not been assessed qualitatively.