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. 1990 Sep 1;31(5):269–272. doi: 10.1007/BF01740933

Detection of polymorphic epithelial mucins in the serum of systemic breast cancer patients using the monoclonal antibody, NCRC-11

M R Price 1,✉, A J Clarke 1, J F R Robertson 2, C O'Sullivan 1, R W Baldwin 1, R W Blamey 2
PMCID: PMC11038540  PMID: 2376045

Abstract

Serum from patients with systemic breast cancer was found to contain elevated levels of polymorphic epithelial mucin (PEM) as detected using an immunoradiometric assay employing the monoclonal antibody NCRC-11. PEM was partially purified from pooled sera from these patients and the complex, polymorphic, high-molecular-mass (>400 kDa) mucin was identified by sodium dodecylsulphate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, Western blotting and immunostaining with the NCRC-11 antibody. Serial serum samples from 16 patients with metastatic breast cancer were assayed for circulating PEM defined by the monoclonal antibody NCRC-11. The clinical course of disease in these patients was assessed independently as progressive, static or responsive. Increasing NCRC-11 antigen levels correlated with disease progression in 6/7 patients, and decreasing antigen levels correlated with an objective response to treatment in 5/6 patients. Measurement of NCRC-11-defined PEM antigen in patients undergoing therapy for metastatic breast cancer showed an overall accuracy of 75%.

Keywords: Breast Cancer, Metastatic Breast Cancer, Benign Breast Disease, Serum Antigen, Heterophile Antibody

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