QUANTIFICATION OF SERUM-SOLUBLE HLA CLASS-I ANTIGENS IN PATIENTS WITHGASTRIC-CANCER

The amount of sHLA-I in serum was ex amined in 74 patients with gastri c cancer and 15 normal healthy controls. For mAbs, W6/32 specific for HLA-A, -B, -C, and biotin IOT2 specific for HLA class I associated wit h beta(2) microglobulin, were used to determine the values of sHLA-I u sing an ELISA. The patients in stage-IV gastric cancer showed lower va lues of sHLA-I (445.4 +/- 247.1 ng/ml) than those in stage I(725.9 +/- 575.8 ng/ml), stage II (752.8 +/- 255.0 ng/ml), and normal controls ( 868.9 +/- 715.0 ng/ml) (P < 0.05). In analysis of the patients with HL A-A24, the allele that has been reported to secrete more sHLA-I than o ther alleles, the results were nearly the same. These results suggest that the secretion of sHLA-I is low in patients with very advanced can cer. However, there was no correlation between the sHLA-I level and th e metastasis or prognosis in longitudinal studies in 11 patients.