Cytophilic Antibodies in Man

  1. MALCOLM S. MITCHELL, M.D.;
  2. MARGALIT BIRNBAUM MOKYR, M.S.;
  3. GREGG T. ASPNES, M.D.; and
  4. SUE McINTOSH, M.D.
  1. New Haven, Connecticut

    Abstract

    Antibodies cytophilic for macrophages, mediating attachment of immunologically naive macrophages to leukemic cells, were found in the serum of 25 patients with acute myelocytic or lymphocytic leukemia, regardless of their clinical status. These antibodies recognized not only the patient's own (autochthonous) tumor cells but also second-party (allogenic) cells of the same histological type. There was no cross-reactivity between the two types of leukemia except in one instance. Sorption with leukemic cells but not normal leukocytes removed the cytophilic antibody activity, and there was no reactivity against normal leukocytes derived from a patient in remission from lymphocytic leukemia. Thus, the cytophilic antibodies were directed against leukemia-associated antigens common to a histological class of leukemia. The presence of cytophilic antibodies can be shown in man, paralleling studies in mice showing the pivotal importance of this class of antibody in the rejection of tumors by macrophages.

    Article and Author Information

    • ▸From the Departments of Medicine, Pharmacology, and Pediatrics, Yale University School of Medicine; and the Yale-New Haven Medical Center; New Haven, Connecticut.

    • ▸Requests for reprints should be addressed to Malcolm S. Mitchell, M.D., Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT 06510.

      • Received April 5, 1973.
      • Accepted June 1, 1973.
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    1. Ann Intern Med September 1, 1973 vol. 79 no. 3 333-339
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