title: The presence of CA19-9 in serum and saliva from Lewis blood-group negative cancer patients.
abstract: Eighteen cancer patients showed high levels of CA19-9 in sera, even though the blood-group phenotypes of their red blood cells were Le(a-b-). Seven of these patients (group I) were determined as Le(a-b-) from both red blood cells and saliva consistently, whereas eleven other patients (group II) secreted either Le(a) or Le(b) antigen in saliva and showed the expression of incompatible Lewis blood-group antigens. GDP-fucose: N-acetyl-glucosaminide alpha(1----4)-L-fucosyltransferase was demonstrated to be present in salivas from both group I and group II. These results suggest that a cancer-associated alteration of Lewis blood-group antigen expression occurs in cancer patients.
mesh_terms: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis*; D015295:Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate; D001788:Blood Grouping and Crossmatching; D004792:Enzyme Precursors / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005647:Fucosyltransferases / Q000097:blood; D006154:Guanosine Diphosphate Fucose; D006801:Humans; D007983:Lewis Blood Group Antigens; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000276:immunology; D010641:Phenotype; D012463:Saliva / Q000201:enzymology / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D015295:Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate; D004792:Enzyme Precursors; D007983:Lewis Blood Group Antigens; D006154:Guanosine Diphosphate Fucose; D005647:Fucosyltransferases; C019818:3-galactosyl-N-acetylglucosaminide 4-alpha-L-fucosyltransferase