Anti-albumin antibodies in sera of patients with gastro-intestinal disease.

Sera from 111 patients with various gastro-intestinal (GI) diseases were studies for the presence of antibodies to human serum albumin (HSA), bovine serum albumin (BSA) and ovalbumin (OA) by passive haemagglutination assay. The antibody titre to BSA was higher than that to HSA or OA. The anti-BSA antibody was demonstrated in upper GI diseases i.e. esophageal cancer, gastric ulcer, gastric cancer and duodenal ulcer, and not in lower GI disease i.e. Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and colon cancer. Both the mean titre and the incidence of the anti-BSA antibody tended to be higher in women than in men, and the titre was in a positive correlation with serum gamma-globulin levels. Sephadex G-200 column chromatography revealed that the anti-BSA antibody was widely distributed between void volume and 7S fraction.