Circulating antibodies in human malignant disease.

A number of antibodies have been identified in some cancer sera. Some of these react with tissue constituents and others with certain cellular components. One of these—a newly described antibody believed to react with an antigen closely related to cytoplasmic microtubules—is capable of cross reacting widely with many different fixed cells, making the identification of tumour specific antibodies more complex. Despite the presence of this antibody in the sera of some patients with malignant melanoma, a preliminary study suggests that there exists in the sera of many of these patients an antibody with a greater affinity for the cytoplasm of melanoma cells than that of a non-malignant cell. The possible significance of these various antibodies is discussed.