Soluble Tissue Antigens in Human Brain Tumor and Cerebrospinal Fluid

Abstract

ELEVATION of the protein content of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in patients with brain tumor has been noted frequently in the clinic. Of 71 patients with gliomas of the cerebral hemisphere reported by Merritt and Fremont-Smith, 67% exhibited lumbar CSF protein values which were greater than 45 mg/100 ml; 30% were greater than 100 mg/ml. Increased amounts of CSF protein were practically always found in patients with gliomas of the third ventricle and the corpus callosum.¹ Several theories have been proposed to account for this abnormal protein concentration. One among these has been the suggestion that "protein debris" from the tumor itself enters the subarachnoid space.² This concept finds support in the early electrophoretic studies of Cumings who demonstrated an excess of β-globulin in cyst fluids and CSFs from patients with malignant tumors and also, in two cases, in tumor tissue itself.³ Later, German et al