An antiserum to ovarian mucinous cyst fluid with colon cancer specificity.

Antisera to mucin of benign mucinous cystadenomas of human ovary were produced in rabbits. These antisera were reacted with cancerous and normal tissue extracts by the Ouchterlony double diffusion test. Distinctive precipitin reactions occurred with colon cancer mucosal extracts. These bands were distinctive for colon cancer and could not be removed by absorption with normal colon mucosa from the same patient. Other mucin-producing tumors, such as stomach, lung, ovary, and breast, failed to show any definitive cancer precipitin with this antibody. It is postulated that the ovarian mucins contain antigenic material common to altered mucin in colon cancer.