Detection of oncornavirus antigenic activity in human urothelial tissues.

Our studies indicate that certain urologic tissues demonstrate evidence of proteins which compete with the interspecies antigens of C-type ribonucleic acid viruses for binding sites of the feline and murine oncornavirus antiglobulins. This fact indicates either the association of viral antigens within these tissues or the presence of a protein so similar to the interspecies antigen that it cross reacts. Studies are now underway to localize reacting antigens within these urologic cells, to correlate the immunologic properties with enzymatic properties known to be specific for oncornaviruses and to assay the activity of patient sera with isolated interspecies antigens. Sera from patients with urologic malignancies will be tested to determine whether the sera can effectively absorb reactivity from tissue extracts or compete with reagent rabbit antisera raised against the interspecies component of the viruses. Should either activity be detected in patient sera, clinical screening will be undertaken to determine if this approach is applicable to early detection of urologic malignancies.