title: The significance of anti-sialyl-Tn antibodies in patients with colorectal and breast cancer.
abstract: The sera of 54 individuals with colorectal or breast cancer, and 50 healthy volunteers were assayed for the presence of anti-bovine submaxillary mucin antibodies using an enzyme linked immunoassay. The serum levels of these antibodies were found to be significantly lower in people with breast (p < 0.001) or colorectal cancer (p < 0.001) with respect to healthy individuals. Within the colorectal cancer group the presence of antibodies was significantly lower in those individuals with poorly differentiated tumors compared to other histological grades (p < 0.05), but did not correlate with the presence of local or distant metastases or anatomical location of the tumor (p > 0.05). No correlation was found with respect to the age of the patient and the level of anti-sialyl-Tn antibodies (p > 0.05). Competition analysis with the anti-sialyl-Tn monoclonal antibody 3C2 indicated that the activity against bovine submaxillary mucin was primarily due to specificity for the sialyl-Tn epitope of the glycoprotein. In contrast to findings with other tumor associated antigens, we could find no evidence of an increase in the level of antibodies against this epitope.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Coomber
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Hawkins
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dalley
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Ward
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000912:Antibodies, Neoplasm / Q000097:blood*; D015295:Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate / Q000276:immunology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009077:Mucins / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000912:Antibodies, Neoplasm; D015295:Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate; D009077:Mucins