title: A prospective study of circulating immune complexes in patients with breast cancer.
abstract: Levels of circulating immune complex (cIC) and complement split product C3d were studied in 86 patients with breast cancer (BC), 22 patients with benign breast disease (BD), and 72 age- and sex-matched blood-bank donors (NC), using solid-phase Clq-protein A RIA, Clq-anti-IgG RIA, anti-C3d anti-IgG RIA, and polyclonal IgM-rheumatoid factor ELISA for clC detection. No significant differences in cIC and C3d levels were found between the groups. The incidence of raised cIC levels varied from 4.9 to 8.2% in the BC group and from 4.5 to 22.7% in the BD group in comparison with 2.9 to 3.0% in the NC group. Using the solid-phase polyclonal IgM-rheumatoid factor ELISA we found that the cIC levels of patients with stage-III cancer were significantly higher than those of patients with stage-I or stage-II cancer. However, the other tests showed no relationship to tumor burden. Likewise, an effect of mastectomy on the cIC levels was also only detectable by one of the assays, i.e., the post-mastectomy levels of cIC as measured by the solid-phase anti-C3d anti-IgG RIA were significantly lower than the pre-mastectomy levels. Serial analyses of cIC and C3d levels were performed pre-operatively, one month post-operatively and every 3 months during the first year after mastectomy in 46 of the patients. During a I-year observation period, 7 patients developed metastatic disease. The occurrence of metastatic disease was not, however, preceded by characteristic changes in serially determined cIC and C3d levels.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Microbiology, University of Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bukh
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Aguado
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Krarup
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Poulsen
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Nordentoft
authors.forename: N P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Møller
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000936:Antigen-Antibody Complex / Q000032:analysis*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D003176:Complement C3 / Q000032:analysis; D015933:Complement C3d; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000032:analysis; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies
chemical_list: D000936:Antigen-Antibody Complex; D003176:Complement C3; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D015933:Complement C3d