Demonstration of common sarcoma-associated antigen(s) in an established human neurogenic sarcoma cell line.

An established human neurogenic sarcoma cell line pre sented a tumor-associated antigen common to various sarcoma tumors. The antigen was detected by immunofluorescent techniques with the use of the sera of patients bearing such tumors and is located mainly on the cellular surface. The tumor-specific antibody of most sera showed only membrane immunofluorescence while five sera revealed both intracytoplasmic and membrane immunofluorescence. In one case, only intracytoplasmic fluorescence was detected. Sixteen of 22 sera of patients with sarcoma gave positive reactions with antibody titers ranging from 40 to 160. Only 1 of 16 sera from patients with other neoplastic diseases and 1 serum of 18 normal sera gave positive results. The tumor antigen(s) present in this established cell line may provide an easy, standard source in the development of a clinical laboratory screening and monitoring assay for sarcoma tumors.