Demonstration by Immunoelectrophoresis of Antigen in Human Myelogenous Leukemia2

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Abstract
Washed leukocytes from patients with acute and chronic myelogenous leukemia were injected into normal rabbits as well as rabbits given tolerance-inducing injections of normal human blood soon after birth. Other rabbits were immunized with normal human leukocytes. Serum harvested from the rabbits was doubly absorbed with pooled normal human leukocytes. The serum was tested by immunoelectrophoresis against pooled myelogenous leukemia leukocytes, leukemic leukocytes from individual patients, normal and leukemic bone marrow specimens, C-rcactivc protein, phytohemagglutinin, and heparin. The rabbit sera before absorption produced several sets of precipitin lines with leukemic or normal leukocytes. After absorption, however, sera from 42 of 105 rabbits still produced a precipitin line with pooled leukemic material, while none showed a reaction to the normal leukocyte preparation. None of the serum samples from 62 rabbits immunized with normal leukocytes and then absorbed in the same manner showed any precipitin lines when tested with leukemic material. The antigen was detected only in the leukocytic fraction of the blood and was present in both acute and chronic myelogenous leukemia leukocytes, but was not detected in the leukocytic fraction of blood from either patients with chronic lymphatic leukemia or normal individuals. The antigen appeared to be somewhat labile to storage at −20 C. Apparently the leukocytes in human myelogenous leukemia have an antigen which is absent or not ordinarily found in detectable quantities in normal or other leukemic materials tested.