Selective inhibition of leukocyte adherence in women with breast cancer using a variety of tissue extracts.

Leukocyte adherence inhibition (LAI) tests for the assessment of tumor immunity in vitro have been based on the assumption that the adherence of the leukocytes is inhibited by specific interaction with an antigenic tumor extract. However, loss of leukocyte adherence could depend on several non-immunological factors including disease state of the leukocyte donor and the presence of a variety of agents, proteins or tissue extracts. We have studied LAI , therefore, using different species and concentrations of serum protein or tissue extracts. Our results show that leukocytes from patients with a variety of diseases adhere to glass in a rather consistent fashion. High concentrations of serum protein or tissue extract inhibited leukocyte adherence. 39 breast cancer patients and 38 female controls were studied with a total of 23 solubilized extracts from breast carcinoma, other tumor and non-tumor tissues. Breast cancer patients showed selective LAI in the presence of 200 microgram per test tube of several breast carcinoma extracts.