Cytotoxic antibodies to allogenic lymphocytes in prostatic cancer.

To the Editor.— In a recent communication ( 216 :2015, 1971), we reported on the presence of cytotoxic antibodies to allogenic lymphocytes in the serum of two of 22 patients (9%) with carcinoma of the prostate as determined by the lymphocytotoxicity test. 1 In addition, the sera of these two patients have since been shown to contain leukoagglutinating antibodies as determined by the method of capillary agglutination. 2 The cytotoxic property of sera of patients with carinoma of the prostate has now been found to be complement dependent and following the procedure of Wilson et al 3 were specifically absorbed with reactive lymphocytes, suggesting that the factor responsible for cytotoxicity was a true antibody. Perhaps of further significance was the finding, as shown in the accompanying Table, that comparable lymphocytotoxic activity for allogenic lymphocytes was not observed in serum specimens obtained from 28 patients with benign prostatic hypertrophy ( 216 :2015, 1971),