Tumor marker studies of cervical smears: an immunohistochemical approach.

Immunoreactivity with monoclonal antibodies against epithelial membrane antigen (EMA), vimentin, squamous epithelium-specific keratin, nonsquamous epithelium-specific keratin, and polyclonal antibodies epithelial cells of 55 cervical smears using the avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex and indirect immunoperoxidase methods to detect antigens. Most of the abnormal squamous cells with few normal cells were reactive for EMA but the intensity of the reaction was variable in both cases. There was no correlation in the reactivity between normal and abnormal cells with different cytokeratins varying in their molecular weight. Vimentin was also reactive with both cells. The results of this experiment suggest that antibodies used, appear to be of limited usefulness in the diagnosis of cervical smears.

Role of immunoperoxidase staining in serous effusions.

Immunoreactivity with monoclonal antibodies against epithelial membrane antigen, vimentin, keratin-squamous epithelium, keratin-nonsquamous epithelium and with polyclonal antibodies against keratin, involucrin, S-100 protein, desmin and varies; is directly proportional to-1 antitrypsin was done in 30 pleural and peritoneal effusion fluids; 15 each of benign and malignant origin using the avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex (ABC) technique to differentiate between the mesothelial cells and the adenocarcinoma cells. In the present study we have demonstrated that desmin and S-100 protein are distributed in the cancer cells and the mesothelial cells of the effusion fluids. Neither EMA nor keratin has the specific reactive pattern which could lead to the differentiation of the mesothelial cells from the cancer cells, but vimentin and keratin could be used for the diagnosis of the mesothelial cells since they had maximum reactivities compared to the cancer cells.