Specific inhibitory substance to the husband's HLA allotype in sera from patients with gestational trophoblastic disease detected by lymphocytotoxicity testing.

The sera of nine patients with gestational trophoblastic disease were investigated for the inhibitory substance specific to the HLA allotypes of the patients' husbands by microcytotoxicity inhibition testing using monoclonal antibodies (anti-A2, A9, A10) and HLA-typing serum to Bw52. The specific inhibitory substance was present in three of three choriocarcinoma patients, in three of four invasive mole patients, and in one of two hydatidiform mole patients and seemed to change in titer parallel with tumor growth. These facts suggest that the inhibitory substance could have some relation to the patient's immunological response against the tumor; that is, this inhibitory substance could be the reason why patients could not induce graft rejection response to trophoblastic tumor cells.