Leukocyte adherence inhibition by soluble tumor antigens in breast cancer patients

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Abstract
The authors modified and refined the Leukocyte Adherence Inhibition Assay (LAI) first described by Halliday, et al. in 1972 by standardizing the protein concentration of tumor-associated antigens (TAA) and by utilizing paired normal tissue extracts as controls to eliminate interference of HL-A histocompatibility antigens and organ-associated antigens. When dose response studies were performed, a progressively larger percentage of patients reacted to the LAI test with increasing concentration of tumor extracts, but the optimal concentration was found to be 200 μg/ml, where 42 out of 66 (63%) leukocytes from 54 breast cancer patients reacted to the breast cancer extracts. At this dose range, only three out of 39 (7%) normal donors and four out of 30 (13%) patients with other types of cancer were positive. When breast cancer patients were tested against TAA of colon cancer and malignant melanoma, one of 24 (4%) and two of 24 (8%), respectively, were positive. Although a higher response rate (72%) was noted in Stage II disease, this was not statistically different from Stage I and Stage III disease. Likewise, no difference was noted in LAI at varying phases following the mastectomy.