Immunological relatedness of a murine mammary tumor-associated antigen and human breast cancer.
Immunological relatedness of a non-virion, murine mammary tumor-associated antigen (MTAA) and human breast cancer was demonstrated in this study. The MTAA was isolated from spontaneous mammary tumors (MMT) of C3H/J mice. An anti-serum specific for the MTAA was prepared by exhaustively absorbing the rabbit anti-serum to the MMT extract with tissue pellets of the pooled organs of tumor-free female mice. The observed cross-reaction of human malignant breast tumor (MBT) tissues with the absorbed antiserum further absorbed with normal human breast tissues suggested the presence of the MTAA or a related antigen in the MBT. No MTAA reactivity was found in human benign breast tumor. Circulating antibodies against the MTAA were recorded in all of 14 preoperative patients with MBT. Up to 18 months following surgical removal of the MBT, antibodies could be detected in the sera, though the reactivity was significantly lower than that of the sera of preoperative patients, and eventually disappeared. The antibodies were absent in patients with benign breast tumor and other neoplastic diseases, except in one patient with cancer of the cervix, and in healthy women.
D000818:Animals; D000912:Antibodies, Neoplasm / Q000276:immunology; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000276:immunology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D003429:Cross Reactions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008325:Mammary Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000276:immunology*; D008324:Mammary Tumor Virus, Mouse; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H
D000912:Antibodies, Neoplasm; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm