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Clinical Significance of Leukemia Associated Antigen (LAA) in Human Serum
Author(s) -
NOER G.,
BERG K.,
STAVEM P.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.934
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1365-3083
pISSN - 0300-9475
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3083.1978.tb03989.x
Subject(s) - leukemia , antigen , antiserum , medicine , immunology , fetus , chronic lymphocytic leukemia , chronic myelogenous leukemia , umbilical cord , amniotic fluid , biology , pregnancy , genetics
Antiserum to serum leukemia associated antigen (LAA) was produced by immunizing rabbits or sheep with leukemic blast cells or fetal cells. This, as well as its presence in amniotic fluid and fetal tissue identifies LAA as another oncofetal component. LAA was present in the serum of 1% of healthy blood donors. In a longitudinal study of leukemia patients, LAA was found, at one stage or the other, in 50–75% of patients with acute leukemia or chronic myelogenous leukemia, but only in 27% of persons with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. A difference between those who obtained and those who did not obtain a remission was observed, since significantly more patients in the latter group had LAA at the initial test. Among these who obtained a remission, appearance of LAA seemed to signal a turn for the worse. These findings with qualitative tests were confirmed by the quantitative ‘rocket’ technique. The exact nature of LAA is the subject of present studies.