title: Antibody responses of remission leukemia patients receiving active specific and nonspecific immunotherapy.
abstract: A solid-phase radioimmunoassay was utilized to evaluate the antibody response of 21 acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) patients to active specific immunotherapy with either pooled allogeneic AML blast cells or leukemia-associated antigen (LAA), admixed with BCG cell-wall skeleton (CWS). Five of 13 patients treated with LAA had a significant antibody response to LAA after immunotherapy. Antibody response correlated with an increased remission duration (159+ vs. 75+ weeks) and an increased survival (164+ vs. 98+ weeks). Two of eight patients treated with cells responded to LAA, and three patients had initially high anti-LAA antibody levels. In the total study, eight of 11 patients surviving longer than 2 1/2 years and six of seven patients maintaining a complete remission longer than 2 years were antibody responders. Neither protocol induced significant antibody to a normal spleen extract, BCG-CWS, or a measles recall antigen. However, five of seven patients with initially high levels of antibody to BCG (following weekly BCG scarification) were long-term survivors. These data suggest that the humoral immune response to immunotherapeutic agents may be a useful parameter for monitoring immunotherapy of AML patients.
mesh_terms: D000912:Antibodies, Neoplasm / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D000917:Antibody Formation; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001500:BCG Vaccine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D012075:Remission, Spontaneous; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D000912:Antibodies, Neoplasm; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D001500:BCG Vaccine