Serum antibody in patients with breast disease: Correlation with histopathology.

Antibody to a breast cancer antigen was detected by immunodiffusion or complement fixation in at least one serum sample in 46% of 84 patients with a diagnosis of carcinoma, 34% of 96 patients with fibrocystic disease and 25% of 44 patients with fibroadenoma. A single serum sample obtained from screenees of the Detection Center for Breast Diseases was tested by immunodiffusion only and antibody was found in 3 of 206 screenees (1.5%). Eleven of 13 patients with breast cancer metastatic to lymph nodes and no detectable serum antibody either had recurrence or were dead within 12 months of mastectomy. Fifteen of 18 patients with breast cancer metastatic to lymph nodes and with detectable serum antibody were alive and free of disease for up to 24 months. Histologic slides from patients with a diagnosis of fibrocystic disease or fibroadenoma were reviewed for the presence of ductal epithelial hyperplasia. Ductal epithelial hyperplasia was present in a similar per cent of patients with no detectable serum antibody as those with antibody detected in the serum. Severe sinus histiocytosis of the axillary lymph nodes was present in 45% of those cancer patients with serum antibody and only 11% of those cancer patients with no detectable serum antibody.