Abstract
Lymphocytes from a total of 161 subjects, including normal controls and patients with malignant and non-malignant conditions, have been investigated for their response to myelin basic protein, using the macrophage electrophoretic mobility (MEM) test. It has been confirmed that there was a high level of association between clinically evident cancer and a positive response. Lymphocytes from 24/25 patients with non-malignant inflammatory and ischaemic diseases also gave positive responses. In 46 patients with breast lumps studied before mastectomy or biopsy, the test was positive in 15/19 cases which proved to be malignant and in 5/27 which proved benign on histological examination. In its present form the test is not sufficiently reliable for the diagnosis of early cancer. Our results suggest that tissue necrosis in malignant and non-malignant conditions may be one of the factors resulting in sensitization to antigenic determinants present in preparations of myelin basic protein. Despite its technical difficulties, the test may provide a means of examing some aspects of immune recall not readily revealed by other test systems.