Autologous antibodies eluted from membrane fragments isolated from the effusions of human ovarian epithelial neoplasms. I. Quantitation of antibodies.

Cyst and ascites fluids from patients with ovarian epithelial neoplasms contain large amounts of soluble immunoglobulins without detectable antibody activity against human ovarian tumor cell lines by indirect immunofluorescence. Membrane fragments were prepared from 56 human ovarian effusions, and the presence of membrane-bound IgG, IgA, and IgM was demonstrated. The predominant membrane-bound immunoglobulin class was IgG, which ranged from 18 to 4275 ng/ml on samples tested, whereas IgA was present in the range of 5 to 52 ng/ml. The autologous membrane-bound antibodies strongly recognized cell-surface antigens on four human ovarian cell lines and four surgical specimens of human ovarian adenocarcinoma but did not react with normal human ovaries, non-ovarian normal and neoplastic tissues, or non-ovarian human cell lines by indirect immunofluorescence assay. These studies indicate that patients with ovarian cancer have the capability of recognizing and forming antibodies against autologous ovarian tumor-associated antigens.