[Anti-tumor antibodies in the blood of patients with gliomas].

Anti-tumor antibodies have been searched for with an antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity assay in the sera of patients with glioma. Sera from 60 patients and from 25 normal individuals have been tested against cells from 8 human glioblastoma lines. 10 patients (17%) and 5 controls (20%) were found to have antibodies against one or more tumor lines. There were extensive cross-reaction between the positive sera against the different glioma cells, but the reactivity of each serum was different. The specificity of the antibodies thus detected has been investigated. The positive patients' sera were found to have a similar cytotoxic activity against unrelated tumor and normal cells. Moreover, their activity was absorbed by cells from unrelated tumors and normal platelets. These results do not support the concept of a specific humoral response of glioma patients to a possible common tumor-associated antigen.