Patients' immune response to breast and lung carcinoma-associated Thomsen-Friedenreich (T) specificity.

We report here sensitive and specific measurement of immune responses of patients with certain kinds of carcinoma toward the physically and chemically well defined T antigen isolated from healthy human erythrocytes. Over 90% of adenocarcinoma tissues tested possess T-specific immunoreactive structures as determined with human antisera, in contrast to healthy tissues and benign lesions. Adenocarcinoma patients recognize the carcinoma-associated T antigen as foreign. Delayed-type skin hypersensitivity reaction to T antigen (DTHR-T) was positive in all 25 lung adenocarcinoma patients tested, in 88% of 101 patients with ductal, in 43% of 30 patients with lobular or tubular breast carcinoma and in 9/9 patients with adenocarcinoma of body cavities. Patients of all Stages reacted positively. All 7 patients with small cell lung carcinoma and 3/5 with malignant melanoma had a positive DTHR-T. None of 17 patients with malignant brain tumors, leukemia or Hodgkin's disease, sarcoma or thyroid carcinoma reacted. The DTHR-T was specific in that all 77 healthy persons and 48/49 with other diseases, including 23/24 with non-cancer lung disease were negative; one patient with organizing interstitial pneumonitis was positive. This points to a possible source of false positive reactions. 91% of 149 patients with histologically benign breast disease had a negative DTHR-T; the histology of some of the positive ones was reexamined, 2 proved to have carcinoma in situ.