Abstract
To evaluate the impact of MHC antigen expression on the survival of patients with cancer, 77 human breast carcinomas were investigated for the expression of beta 2-microglobulin (beta 2m), HLA-A,B,C and HLA-DR. Thirty-one benign breast tumours were stained for comparison. The results for the carcinomas were related to the survival data of the cancer patients. The expression of beta 2m, HLA-A,B,C and HLA-DR was significantly lower in malignant tumours compared to the benign lesions. Whereas all benign tumours were positive for beta 2m and HLA-A,B,C and 28/31 positive for HLA-DR the following positivity rates were found in carcinomas: 74/77 for beta 2m, 57/77 for HLA-A,B,C and 10/77 for HLA-DR. The follow-up (median 45 months) of 66 cancer patients for overall survival and of 65 patients for disease-free survival revealed no influence of beta 2m, HLA-A,B,C or HLA-DR expression on the prognosis of this cancer. In conclusion, experimental data indicating the importance of MHC antigens in anti-tumour responses are not confirmed by the analysis of cancer patient survival data.
Highlights
Between 1982 and 1985 representative samples of 31 benign and 77 malignant breast lesions were collected at the time of surgery at the Department of Surgery of the Evangelisches Diakoniekrankenhaus, Freiburg
No benign tissue was completely negative for P2m or HLA-A,B,C antigens
Its expression in the remaining samples generally was lower compared to the expression of P2m or HLA-A,B,C
Summary
Carcinomas with up to 3 axillary lymph node metastases. The sections were thawed, fixed in acetone for 10 min at RT and rehydrated in PBS (0.04 M, pH 7.4). They were incubated with the first antibody for 30 min at 37°C, with the second biotinylated horse anti-mouse IgG for 30 min at RT and with the ABC for 45 min at RT. Patients with distant metastases at the time of diagnosis or whose M-status was unknown were excluded from the follow-up (n = 6). The follow-up time ranged from 26 to 81 months (median 45 months)
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