Breast cancer skin test antigens of increased sensitivity prepared from vesicular stomatitis virus-infected tumor cells

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Abstract
Crude membrane (CM) extracts were prepared from five cultured breast tumor lines (MDA‐MB‐157, MDA‐MB‐231, ZR75‐1, HS0578T, and MCF‐7) which had been infected with vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) to augment their antigenicity. In skin test trials, CM extracts of uninfected MCF‐7 cells elicited positive responses in 0 of 13 (0%) tests in breast cancer patients, while VSV‐MCF‐7 elicited positive responses in 11 of the same 13 patients (84.6%). CM extracts of VSV‐ZR75‐1 and VSV‐MCF‐7 elicited greater delayed hypersensitivity responses (mm induration at 48 hr) in breast cancer patients than in patients with lung carcinoma or melanoma. Although the sensitivity of VSV‐ZR75‐1 was too low (ten of 28, or 35.7%, of tests positive) to be useful as a skin test antigen, VSV‐MCF‐7 elicited positive responses in 30 of 38 (78.9%) tests in breast cancer patients, as compared to two of 15 (13.3%) and two of 13 (15.4%) of tests in patients with lung carcinoma and melanoma, respectively. The “virus‐augmented” CM extract of cultured MCF‐7 cells exhibited markedly greater sensitivity as compared to control MCF‐7 extracts (P < .005), with a high degree of specificity for breast cancer patients as compared to patients with the other neoplasms (P < .00001). The results of skin testing with VSV‐MCF‐7 CM extracts demonstrated antigenic cross‐reactivity with a large number of breast cancer patients, a finding of great importance for any potential immunotherapy and/or immunodiagnosis.

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