Abstract
Five university centres in Canada and the United States have collaborated in a study of a test for carcinoembryonic antigen, with the Montreal General Hospital laboratory acting as the reference laboratory, examining duplicate halves of specimens from patients examined in local laboratories.
Between June 1971 and April 1972, 503 patients were admitted to the study, 146 with cancer of the colon or rectum. Discrimination between colo-rectal cancer and “other” diagnoses was good at 2.5 ng./ml. or more, such a result being obtained in 66% of the patients with colo-rectal cancer in the local laboratories and 62% in the reference laboratory compared with 39% and 33% respectively of patients with “other” diagnoses. Patients with Duke's C lesions of the colon or rectum were more likely to have raised CEA levels than patients with more localized lesions. CEA was also more commonly found in patients with other cancers and in patients with liver disease than in patients with other (benign) diagnoses.
It is concluded that the test can be reproduced in other laboratories and that it or another simplified technique could become an important diagnostic aid for colo-rectal cancer.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Egan M. L., Lautenschleger J. T., Coligan J. E., Todd C. W. Radioimmune assay of carcinoembryonic antigen. Immunochemistry. 1972 Mar;9(3):289–299. doi: 10.1016/0019-2791(72)90093-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- FARR R. S. A quantitative immunochemical measure of the primary interaction between I BSA and antibody. J Infect Dis. 1958 Nov-Dec;103(3):239–262. doi: 10.1093/infdis/103.3.239. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- GOLD P., FREEDMAN S. O. DEMONSTRATION OF TUMOR-SPECIFIC ANTIGENS IN HUMAN COLONIC CARCINOMATA BY IMMUNOLOGICAL TOLERANCE AND ABSORPTION TECHNIQUES. J Exp Med. 1965 Mar 1;121:439–462. doi: 10.1084/jem.121.3.439. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Krupey J., Gold P., Freedman S. O. Physicochemical studies of the carcinoembryonic antigens of the human digestive system. J Exp Med. 1968 Sep 1;128(3):387–398. doi: 10.1084/jem.128.3.387. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Moore T. L., Kupchik H. Z., Marcon N., Zamcheck N. Carcinoembryonic antigen assay in cancer of the colon and pancreas and other digestive tract disorders. Am J Dig Dis. 1971 Jan;16(1):1–7. doi: 10.1007/BF02233781. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Reynoso G., Chu T. M., Holyoke D., Cohen E., Nemoto T., Wang J. J., Chuang J., Guinan P., Murphy G. P. Carcinoembryonic antigen in patients with different cancers. JAMA. 1972 Apr 17;220(3):361–365. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Thomson D. M., Krupey J., Freedman S. O., Gold P. The radioimmunoassay of circulating carcinoembryonic antigen of the human digestive system. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1969 Sep;64(1):161–167. doi: 10.1073/pnas.64.1.161. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Zamcheck N., Moore T. L., Dhar P., Kupchik H. Immunologic diagnosis and prognosis of human digestive-tract cancer: carcinoembryonic antigens. N Engl J Med. 1972 Jan 13;286(2):83–86. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197201132860207. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]