Monoclonal antibodies to the human mammary gland. II. Distribution of determinants in breast carcinomas.

A range of primary and metastatic human breast carcinomas has been examined with respect to the staining by four monoclonal antibodies which were raised to the human milk fat globule membrane. Within the normal breast the luminal epithelial cells expressing the antigens detected by the monoclonal antibodies were heterogeneous in their distribution. The heterogeneity was not only confined to single cells, but also to regions within the breast. The breast carcinomas also expressed the antigens in a variable manner. Morphological differentiation and functional differentiation, defined by the monoclonal antibodies, were not invariably coincident. Lymph node metastases gave similar results to the primary carcinomas. The monoclonal antibodies have revealed a heterogeneity, with respect to surface antigenic expression, within the normal and neoplastic breast epithelium. This cellular heterogeneity of breast carcinomas, may have significant prognostic and therapeutic implications in the management of primary breast cancer.