Surface immunoglobulin positive lymphocytes in human breast cancer tissue and homolateral axillary lymph nodes

Surface immunoglobulins were determined on human lymph node lymphocytes by the use of immunofluorescence technique in 59 breast cancer patients undergoing radical mastectomy. In 10 of these cases, lymphocyte surface immunoglobulins were also studied on lymphocytes infiltrating the primary cancer mass. The most outstanding finding was a difference between the IgM lymphocyte populations in the lymph nodes of patients with and without lymph node metastases. When cancer tissue was present in one or more lymph nodes, the tumor-free as well as the tumor-positive nodes showed a higher percentage of IgM positive lymphocytes than did lymph nodes from patients without nodal metastases. The greatest difference was found when IgM lymphocytes from tumor-bearing lymph nodes were compared with those from the lymph nodes of patients without nodal metastases (p is less than .005). The lymphocyte populations infiltrating 5 of the 10 primary cancer masses studied showed no surface immunoglobulins; in the remainder, both IgG and IgM positive lymphocytes were found but in variable proportions. While the findings are not definitive, this is the first study dealing with the quantitation of immunoglobulin specific lymphocytes in the lymph nodes and tumor tissue of patients with breast cancer.