Survey of Hanganutziu and Deicher (HD) Antibody in Cancer Patients Attending Kenyatta National Hospital

The sensitivity of HD antibody in cancer diagnosis/prognosis could be improved by detection of Immune Complex (IC) dissociated antibody. Combined evaluation of native HD and Immune Complex (IC) dissociated antibody was carried out. Presence and titre of these antibodies in cancer patients was investigated in serum samples obtained from 420 patients with various types of tumors. Results were compared with those of 246 age and sex-matched controls. The serum samples were analysed for hemagglutination antibodies by hemagglutination (HA) test and the antibodies quantified by ELISA. Dissociation was achieved by treating the samples with Glycine Hydrochloride (pH 1.8), then neutralised by Tris-HCl (pH 7.4). Mean HA titre was 16.8 in controls and 67.4 in patients (p<0.001). Patients aged between 26-35 years had the highest mean titre of 75.9 (p=0.397) while controls of the same age had the highest mean titres of 19.9 (p=0.043). Carcinomas had a mean titre of 81 compared to 54 for sarcoma and 52 for lymphoma (p=0.117) among histological types. Female patients had a titre of 75.2 compared to 55.7 of males (p<0.05) while the difference by gender in controls was 15.1 for males and 19.3 for females (p=0.199). The mean level of native HD antibody was -0.011 in controls compared to 0.004 in patients (p=0.03). The levels were significantly high in carcinoma (p=0.017) compared to sarcoma and carcinoma type of malignancy. There was no association between HD antibody levels and age. Mean levels were higher in females than males in both study groups (p=0.628) (p=0.601). IC dissociated antibody mean level was -0.06 in the control group compared to 0.014 in test cases (p=0.000). Levels were independent of gender (p=0.984) while they were highest in sarcoma type compared to other types of tumors that were negative for the antibodies (p=0.413). Both native and antigen-bound HD antibodies are significantly increased in cancer disease.