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A class distribution of plasma cells associated with the stroma in twenty-eight cases of medullary carcinoma of the breast was investigated by an unlabeled immunoperoxidase method. The stroma of the medullary carcinomas tested was found to contain predominantly IgG plasma cells except in two cases. Stroma of the other types of breast carcinoma, including ten cases of papillo-tubular carcinoma, five cases of scirrhous carcinoma, and six cases of medullary tubular carcinoma, contained predominantly IgG plasma cells, although few plasma cells were associated with carcinoma tissues in the latter group. Plasma cells associated with control specimens, including normal breast, fibroadenoma, cystic disease, and intraductal papilloma, were found to be predominantly of IgA type. Few carcinomatous epithelial cells contained secretory components in the cytoplasm, while a number of cells positive for secretory components were observed in acinar and ductular epithelia of normal breast tissues and in benign proliferative lesions of the breast. It is suggested that the lymphoid cells infiltrating the stroma of medullary carcinoma represent a sign of host immune response against the carcinoma cells which is related to the well-known favorable prognosis associated with this tumor.

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We had an outbreak of acute infantile gastroenteritis accompanied by milky-white stool (called Hakuri in Japanese) during the winters of 1976 and 1977. Stool specimens collected from 72 cases of Hakuri were studied by negative-staining electron microscopy. Rotavirus was detected with a very high frequency (89%). Rotavirus obtained from one of the patients was isolated and passaged in cultures of primary human embryonic kidney cells. Viral antigens could be detected in the cytoplasm of the cells by indirect immuno-fluorescence. The fluorescence-positive cells increased in number with repeated passage. Serum anti-viral activities in 11 patients were titrated by indirect immuno-fluorescence, using the cells infected with the passaged rotavirus. All 11 patients developed IgM responses in the convalescent phase. However, in 4 of the 11 patients, no IgG responses were detected even 2--3 weeks after the onset of illness. The reinfection which has occasionally be seen in our country may be related to these poor IgG responses.

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