Tumor associated antigen in ovarian carcinoma.

Tumor associated antigen present in the cyst fluid of a patient with papillary mucinous cytadenocarcinoma of the ovary was prepared by ammonium sulfate precipitation. The dialyzed precipitate was emulsified in complete Freund's adjuvant and injected into rabbits followed by booster doses of the antigen in saline. The resulting antiserum was absorbed with normal human serum and normal liver and AB type blood cells. The absorbed antiserum was found to react with mucinous cyst adenocarcinoma, borderline mucinous cystadenoma and gastric and rectal cancers by immunofluoresence and immunoperoxidase. No reactivity was noted by the same methods in serous-cystadenocarcinoma and mesonephroid tumors. The molecular weight of the tumor associated antigen in cyst fluid of a patient with mucinous cystadenocarcinoma was determined by Enzyme immunoassay and Gel filtration to be 450,000 daltons.