Isolation of a soluble tumor-associated antigen from human renal cell carcinoma by gradient acrylamide gel electrophoresis.

of human tumors (1-10, 12-16). Since these extracts un doubtedly contain a spectrum of antigens, normal as well as tumor related, the isolation and purification of the TAA's would facilitate greatly the development of sensitive and specific immunological assays for the diagnosis and man agement of the cancer patient. Attempts to isolate the TAA's with the use of a variety of fractionation procedures (4-8, 15, 16) have been reported. The method of gel filtra tion used alone or in combination with acrybamide gel electrophoresis appears to have been the most successful in obtaining partially purified tumor antigens (6-8, 15, 16). The purpose of this study was to isolate TAA's from 3 M KCI extracts of renal cell carcinoma tissue by a gradient acrylamide gel electrophoresis technique developed in our laboratories (18, 19) and to monitor the antigenicity of the fractions and crude extract by the LMI assay.