0000000000054307
AUTHOR
A Steinborn
Common antigenic determinant on ductular cells of normal pancreas, on mucosal cells of the gastrointestinal tract and on CEA
CEA is widely used as a human tumour marker and was first defined by Gold and Freedman in 1965 as an antigenic component in cancers derived from gastrointestinal tract epithelium. It is a member of a large family of immunologically related glycoproteins that vary in size and tissue distribution. Studies with c-DNA clones for CEA and NCA reveal that this family consist only of a limited number of different proteins with variable glycosylation, due to post-transcriptional modifications. The complete gene family includes about 10 closely related genes. Recently it was published that in contrast to mRNA coding for CEA, mRNA coding for NCA was expressed predominantly in cancerous tissues. A mono…
The role of the Thomsen-Friedenreich antigen as a tumor-associated molecule.
The Thomsen-Friedenreich antigen (Gal-GalNAc) represents a tumor-associated molecule, which is assumed to be one of the few chemically well-defined antigens with a proven association with malignancy. In order to analyze the role of the carbohydrate structure Gal-GalNAc for gastrointestinal tumors, we immunized Balb/c mice with MCF-7 breast tumor cells together with synthetic Gal-GalNAc linked to a BSA carrier. One monoclonal antibody (82-A6) was established which recognizes the Thomsen-Friedenreich antigen according to the biochemical and serological analysis presented here. In contrast to the studies performed in the past, immunohistochemical results using this antibody 82-A6 did not exhib…