Leukocyte migration in ovarian carcinoma: comparison of inhibitory activity of tumor extracts.

Inhibition of migration of leukocytes from patients with serous cystadenocarcinoma of the ovary was studied by the use of several different types of ovarian carcinoma extract as antigen. KCl extract of an ovarian carconoma was found to be the most effective antigen preparation in comparison with saline, deoxycholate, and perchloric acid extracts. Low concentrations of KCl ovarian carcinoma extract significantly inhibited migration of leukocytes from 11 of 17 patients with ovarian carcinoma (migration index, less than 0.74). Leukocytes from patients with breast, colon, or endometrial carcinoma showed minimal reactivity with ovarian carcinoma KCl extract, and leukocytes from patients with ovarian carcinoma showed minimal reactivity with KCl extracts of breast, colon, and endometrial carcinoma. These results suggested that the 3 M KCl procedure is superior for the isolation of antigens active in the leukocyte migration inhibition test and that this test may be of use for the isolation of tumor-associated antigen and the immunodiagnosis of ovarian carcinoma.