This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Goldenberg, D. M. Articles by Dahlman, H. L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Goldenberg, D. M. Articles by Dahlman, H. L.

Antigens Associated with Normal and Malignant Gastrointestinal Tissues¹

Division of Experimental Pathology, Department of Pathology, University of Kentucky Medical Center, Lexington, Kentucky 40506

Immunization of hamsters with phenol-alcohol extracts of GW-39 human colonic tumor tissues has resulted in the identification of three gastrointestinal tissue-associated antigens, on the basis of precipitin immunoreactivity. Sephadex G-200 and Bio-Gel A-15m chromatography of normal colonic tissue and GW-39 tumor extracts revealed antigen immunoreactivity in the 46,000 (low-molecular-weight), 170,000 to 900,000 (high-molecular-weight), and 5 to 10 million (very high-molecular-weight) ranges or lowmolecular-weight colon-specific antigen (LMW/CSA), high-molecular-weight colon-specific antigen (HMW/CSA), and very-high-molecular-weight colon-specific antigen (VHMW/CSA), respectively. Immunodiffusion reactions indicated that the HMW/CSA was human gastrointestinal tissue-specific, increasing in concentration from the esophagus to the colon [for which reason the term colon-specific antigen (CSA) has been retained], whereas the LMW/CSA was found in human gastrointestinal tissues, hamster and rat colon, human saliva, and normal human cervix. Colonspecific antigen (CSA) could be demonstrated in human gastrointestinal tumors, including the LS-174T colonic cancer cell line, but not in cancers of other sites tested. Likewise, CSA's were found in fetal human gut tissue. Whereas HMW/CSA and VHMW/CSA showed partial identity in immunodiffusion, HMW/CSA and VHMW/CSA, as well as LMW/CSA and VHMW/CSA, showed distinct immunoprecipitin bands, respectively. The immunoelectrophoretic mobility of VHMW/CSA was similar to an -globulin, whereas HMW/CSA and LMW/CSA migrated to the prealbumin region. CSA appeared in immunofluorescence of GW-39 tumor cells and in the goblet cells of human colon predominantly as a cell-surface component. Staining with periodic acid-Schiff and solubility characteristics of the CSA's suggest that they are glycoprotein in nature. These studies thus support the view that organ-specific and organ-associated antigens of the colon can be maintained and expressed in human colonic carcinomas, including the xenografted GW-39 human colonic tumor system.

¹ Presented at the Symposium "Cancer and Chemistry" as part of the Fourth conference on Embryonic and Fetal Antigens in Cancer, November 2 to 5, 1975, Charleston, S. C. This investigation was supported by USPHS Grant CA-15799 from the National Cancer Institute through the National Large Bowel Cancer Project.

² Presenter.