| Abstract: | Blood plasma samples from patients with acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML) or potential preleukaemia and from control subjects were tested for antibodies to the viruses HL-23 and BILN by membrane immunofluorescence. Of 15 patients with untreated AML, three, each having a low peripheral leucocyte count at the time of sampling, had detectable antibodies. Antibodies were present in the plasma of 5 out of 8 AML patients being in remission as a result of chemotherapy. In these cases, the antibody levels significantly exceeded those demonstrated in the untreated cases. Of 12 patients with potential preleukaemia, five proved to be positive. Of the 7 antibody-negative patients, four developed manifest leukaemia within 12-18 months after the first testing. The results are suggestive of a favourable prognostic role of the presence of the antibodies under study. In the majority of the antibody-positive AML and potential preleukameia cases antibodies were detectable to both components of the HL-23 virus. Of 30 control subjects, three had demonstrable antibodies to the BILN virus. |
