We studied cell-mediated immunity (CMI) by means of an antigen prepared from the serum of C3H-H2K strain inbred mice infected by the LDH virus in 184 patients with breast carcinoma. The immune response to the LDH virus and breast cancer antigen was determined by the leukocyte adherence inhibition test (LAI test) and the analysis was carried out by means of the index of positivity (IP) and was significantly higher in patients with breast cancer (IP = 2.2±0.09) when compared with healthy blood donors (IP =0.9±0.05). Importantly, with regard to the time course of the immune response, we found a slight loss of antibodies over 12 to 18 months. To obtain a statistically significant reduction of the titre of antibodies, patients must be examined on a long-term basis (3-5 years). During the incubation of CD4Ly cells with both antigens, the creation of clusters of these lymphocytes was observed, often immediately after an addition of the antigen,whereas only two percent of the healthy donor blood induced this clustering.

Keywords: LDV-RNA, tumour markers, breast carcinoma, LDH virus