Antibodies and antigen expression in human melanoma detected by the immune adherence test

By means of a modified immune adherence (IA) technique, sera from melanoma patients were tested for the presence of antimelanoma antibodies. In total 13/73 sera tested showed a positive IA reaction of which 4/6 sera showed a positive reaction in the autologous situation. Sera from 33 patients with other tumors, 7 patients with non-neoplastic diseases and 50 healthy individuals did not show any IA reactivity towards melanoma cells. The reaction seemed to be selectively directed against tumor-associated antigens (TAA) on melanoma cells. No correlation with the stage of the disease could be found. Longitudinal studies indicated that conversions in antibody activity did not correlate with the clinical state of the patients. There was also no correlation with the corresponding in vitro data obtained in cell-mediated immunity tests. Cell lines and short-term cultures originating from tumors from different melanoma patients shared a common antigenicity. The expression of TAA on cells from a melanoma cell line fluctuated significantly during prolonged culture. The expression of TAA was influenced by the culture conditions and the growth state of the cells. A relation between TAA-expression and cell cycle phase was demonstrated.