Detection of A, B and H(O) antigens in normal and neoplastic epithelium of the urinary bladder by the specific red cell adherence test (SRCA).

A, B and H(O) blood group antigens in some tissues are readily demonstrable by the specific red cell adherence test (SRCA) which is a modification of Coomb's mixed cell adherence technique. Paraffin-embedded tissue sections obtained from tumors of the urinary bladder were submitted to SRCA. Normal bladder epithelium adjacent to neoplastic lesions and the leukoplakia were found to contain the three antigens. The antigens were completely absent in 18 cases and partially present in one of the bladder carcinoma. It was also suggested that the prognosis of the tumor correlates with the antigen loss. SRCA is sensitive, reproducible and technically easy for detection of tissue antigens, and it would be expected to play a crucial role for demonstration of immunological dedifferentiation in tissues which normally keep the antigens.