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Isoferritin Composition of Tissues and Serum in Human Cancers¹

Department of Medicine, University of Queensland, Royal Brisbane Hospital, Herston, 4029 Australia

A highly sensitive technique for isoferritin detection using ¹²⁵I-labeled monospecific anti-human liver ferritin antibody for the identification of isoferritins after the analysis of small quantities of ferritin by isoelectric focusing in polyacrylamide gels was applied to the study of renal, pancreatic, and colonic carcinomas. In all tumors studied, the isoferritin composition differed from that of the corresponding normal tissue; major isoferritins with pl more basic than those of the normal tissues were consistently detected. Composition of purified ferritin from metastases closely resembled the isoferritin composition of the primary tumors. Examination of the serum isoferritin profiles of four patients with cancers did not reveal the presence of any tumor-specific changes in isoferritins. It is suggested that the abnormality in tissue ferritins in the three human cancers studied is the synthesis of major isoferritins in the more basic range, rather than the appearance of tumor-specific isoferritins in the more acidic range.

¹ This study was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Queensland Cancer Fund.

Received 6/22/76. Accepted 9/ 1/76.