Skip to main content
PMC home page
British Journal of Cancer logoLink to British Journal of Cancer
. 1980 Jul;42(1):26–33. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1980.199

Are circulating CEA immune complexes a prognostic marker in patients with carcinoma of the gastrointestinal tract?

H J Staab, F A Anderer, E Stumpf, R Fischer
PMCID: PMC2010478  PMID: 7426328

Abstract

CEA immune complexes and free CEA were determined to 363 patients with histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the gastrointestinal tract before surgery and in a post-operative follow-up. Circulating CEA immune complexes (CEA-IC) could be detected preoperatively in 89 patients. Incidence of CEA-IC increased with increasing tumour extension; 72/89 patients with CEA-IC showed already metastatic disease progression, 40/89 had nonresectable tumours. Patients with preoperative CEA-IC had a poorer prognosis than patients without CEA-IC but with high levels of free CEA, or CEA-negative patients. The appearance of CEA-IC with consecutive increases in the postoperative follow-up indicated disease recurrence. In 32/55 relapse cases, circulating CEA-IC were detected postoperatively, all 32 cases developing metastatic spread of disease.

Full text

PDF
27

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Baldwin R. W., Embleton M. J. Neoantigens on spontaneous and carcinogen-induced rat tumors defined by in vitro lymphocytotoxicity assays. Int J Cancer. 1974 Apr 15;13(4):433–443. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910130402. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Baldwin R. W., Glaves D., Vose B. M. Immunogenicity of embryonic antigens associated with chemically induced rat tumours. Int J Cancer. 1974 Jan 15;13(1):135–142. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910130115. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Baldwin R. W., Price M. R., Robins R. A. Blocking of lymphocyte-mediated cytotoxicity for rat hepatoma cells by tumour-specific antigen-antibody complexes. Nat New Biol. 1972 Aug 9;238(84):185–186. doi: 10.1038/newbio238185a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Collatz E., Von Kleist S., Burtin P. Further investigations of circulating antibodies in colon cancer patients: on the autoantigenicity of the carcinoembryonic antigen. Int J Cancer. 1971 Sep 15;8(2):298–303. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910080215. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Costanza M. E., Pinn V., Schwartz R. S., Nathanson L. Carcinoembryonic antigen-antibody complexes in a patient with colonic carcinoma and nephrotic syndrome. N Engl J Med. 1973 Sep 6;289(10):520–522. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197309062891007. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Gold J. M., Freedman S. O., Gold P. Human anti-CEA antibodies detected by radioimmunoelectrophoresis. Nat New Biol. 1972 Sep 13;239(89):60–62. doi: 10.1038/newbio239060a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Harvey S. R., Van Dusen L. R., Douglass H. O., Holyoke E. D., Chu T. M. Identification of a macromolecule containing an anticarcinoembryonic antigen-reactive substance and immunoglobulin M in human pancreatic cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1978 Nov;61(5):1199–1204. doi: 10.1093/jnci/61.5.1199. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Jose D. G., Seshadri R. Circulating immune complexes in human neuroblastoma: direct assay and role in blocking specific cellular immunity. Int J Cancer. 1974 Jun 15;13(6):824–838. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910130610. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kapsopoulou-Dominos K., Anderer F. A. Circulating carcinoembryonic antigen immune complexes in sera of patients with carcinomata of the gastrointestinal tract. Clin Exp Immunol. 1979 Feb;35(2):190–195. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Lo Gerfo P., Herter F. P., Bennett S. J. Absence of circulating antibodies to carcinoembryonic antigen in patients with gastrointestinal malignancies. Int J Cancer. 1972 Mar 15;9(2):344–348. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910090212. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. MacSween J. M. The antigenicity of carcinoembryonic antigen in man. Int J Cancer. 1975 Feb 15;15(2):246–252. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910150210. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Sorokin J. J., Kupchik H. Z., Zamcheck N. Brief communication: carcinoembryonic antigen in colon cancer: absence in perchloric acid precipitates of plasma. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1973 Sep;51(3):1081–1083. doi: 10.1093/jnci/51.3.1081. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Zöller M., Price M. R., Baldwin R. W. Inhibition of cell-mediated cytotoxicity to chemically induced rat tumours by soluble tumour and embryo cell extracts. Int J Cancer. 1976 Jan 15;17(1):129–137. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910170117. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. von Kleist S., Burtin P. On the specificity of autoantibodies present in colon cancer patients. Immunology. 1966 Jun;10(6):507–515. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. von Kleist S., Chavanel G., Burtin P. Identification of an antigen from normal human tissue that crossreacts with the carcinoembryonic antigen. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1972 Sep;69(9):2492–2494. doi: 10.1073/pnas.69.9.2492. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. von Kleist S., King M., Havemann K. Demonstration of antibodies in patients' sera, directed against nonspecific cross-reacting antigen. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1978 Dec;61(6):1385–1391. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. von Kleist S., Troupel S., King M., Burtin P. A clinical comparison between non-specific cross-reacting antigen and CEA in patient's sera. Br J Cancer. 1977 Jun;35(6):875–880. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1977.131. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Journal of Cancer are provided here courtesy of Cancer Research UK

RESOURCES