Antigens of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Sera obtained from patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma were tested for antibodies to tumour and to normal nasopharyngeal cells, by means of indirect immunofluorescence using frozen sections. Thirteen of twenty-eight sera obtained at the time of biopsy reacted strongly with one or more autologous tumour cell constituents (membranes, nuclei, cytoplasm). The membrane and nuclear antigens were common to tumour cells from all biopsies and were represented on occasional normal nasopharyngeal cells, both epithelial and lymphoid. The cytoplasmic antigen was common to all tumour cells and normal epithelial cells. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that a virus plays a part in the causation of this tumour.