ABSTRACT
The adverse behavior of cancers in general and of breast cancer in particular is expressed in the clinically evident dissemination and progression of the disease. The aggressiveness of a cancer correlates inversely with the degree of nuclear differentiation of the cancer cells, expressed as nuclear grade. The aggressive potential of breast cancer in individual patients is also influenced by specific antitumor cell-mediated immunity of the host. The expression of such reactivity is in turn dependent on specific antigenicity of the cancer cells. Breast cancer patients who were participants in our program for monitoring specific immunity were offered an opportunity to enroll in a study of the influence of high doses of vitamin E and vitamin A on such immunity. The salient feature of the Skin window test procedure is exposure to the target material, mounted on a glass coverslip, to an abraded area of skin for 28 to 32 hours.
