title: Elevated serum HMFG antigen levels in breast and ovarian cancer patients measured with a sandwich ELISA.
abstract: HMFG antigen is a tumour associated glycoprotein that has been immunohistochemically shown to be expressed by malignant cells in breast and ovarian and to a lesser degree in gastro-intestinal carcinomas. We have developed a non-isotopic sandwich ELISA for secretory HMFG antigen utilizing a polyclonal catcher and a tracer monoclonal antibody (MAb). 52/52 of healthy medical students (controls) had a serum value under 400 U/ml whereas 15/30 patients (50%) with evident ovarian cancer and 13/37 (35%) with advanced breast cancer had a value exceeding 400 U/ml. From other patients with malignant tumours 2/14 (14%) with endometrial carcinoma, 0/5 with cervical carcinoma, 0/5 with vulvar carcinoma, 1/33 with gastro-intestinal carcinoma, 0/4 with oesophageal carcinoma and 2/45 of patients with leukemia or lymphoma had an elevated serum HMFG value. Four cases of Crohn disease, 3 cases of ulcerative colitis and 2 cases of pelvic inflammatory disease all showed a serum value below 400 U/ml. Progression of ovarian cancer was accompanied by increasing serum HMFG antigen levels. The antigen detected by our assay is different from CA 125 but may be related with the tumour associated antigen CA 15-3.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ashorn
authors.forename: O P
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: Kallioniemi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hietanen
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ashorn
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Krohn
mesh_terms: D000941:Antigens / Q000032:analysis*; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis; D015295:Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000097:blood*; D018396:Mucin-1; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D015295:Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D018396:Mucin-1