Occurrence of carcinoembryonic antigen in tumor tissue and serum of breast cancer patients.

In 116 breast cancer patients, the levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) were determined before operation in the serum using RIA, and after operation in sections of breast tumor tissue using the immunohistological PAP technique. CEA circulating in the serum was found in 49 patients (42%). Elevated values (over 10 micrograms/l) were found in only 12 patients (10%). In histological specimens CEA positivity was found in 94 tumors (81%), however, in a majority of them the number of positive cells per section was low (1-10%). A comparison of positive and negative findings both in the serum and in the tumor specimens of individual patients showed that both serum and tumor sections were CEA positive in 40 patients (35%) and both localizations were CEA negative in 13 patients (12%). Although most patients had positive histological sections but negative sera (46%). Only 7% of patients had negative sections and positive sera. In 41 patients CEA could be examined both qualitatively (immunohistologically), and quantitatively in the cytosol of the same homogenized tumor. Of them, 30 patients (72%) had in the cytosol a CEA concentration exceeding 5 micrograms/g proteins, in 11 of the 41 patients (28%) no CEA was found. Immunohistological examination of CEA in this group gave positive results in 35 out of the 41 patients (85%), and only 6 tumors (15%) were completely negative. CEA was shown to be present in each histological type of the tumors studied, invasive ductal tumors being slightly more frequent and more positive than the lobular ones. No relation was observed to the structure of the tumors, nor to the degree of their differentiation. Thus, the examination of CEA levels can hardly contribute to the improvement of histological classification.

A non-competitive enzyme immunoassay of human alpha-lactalbumin in biological fluids and tissue extracts.

A sandwich non-competitive enzyme immunoassay for the measurement of human alpha-lactalbumin in serum, milk, and tumour tissue cytosol was developed using affinity-purified polyclonal antibody adsorbed to solid phase. The detection limits of this procedure in tubes (macromethod) and in wells of microtitre plates (micromethod) are 50 pg and 25 pg/sample, respectively, which means 2.5 micrograms/l of serum at appropriate dilution. The micromethod enables a reduction of the volumes used in the reaction with equal sensitivity, accuracy and reproducibility. A comparison of alpha-lactalbumin concentrations in serum of healthy, pregnant, and lactating women determined by our method with those measured formerly by radioimmunoassays proved the specificity of our procedure.

Three-year follow-up of carcinoembryonal antigen levels in the serum of patients with breast cancer.

The levels of carcinoembryonal antigen (CEA) were followed up for three years in 66 patients with breast cancer. In the group of patients treated surgically (N = 36, T1-2, NO-2, MO) the values of CEA were in agreement with the clinical course in 97% of the patients (35 out of 36 patients). Recurrence and/or dissemination of the disease were signalled by a rise in the serum CEA level to more than 15 micrograms/1 out four out of five patients more than 3-10 months before clinical manifestation. In the group of patients without surgery, who were treated by radiation and/or chemotherapy (N = 30, T2-4, NO-3, MO) the serum CEA values were in agreement with the clinical course in 71% of the patients (20/28). Within three years recurrence and/or dissemination were detected in 57% patients (16/28), ten patients died (10/30--two of them were not evaluated). The recurrence or dissemination were signalled in seven out of 16 patients (44%) more than 4-14 months before clinical detection, in three patients (19%) the rise was detected simultaneously with the clinical finding (examinations at 3-4 months intervals), and in 6 patients (38%) the CEA level was at variance with the clinical finding.

Localization of alpha-fetoprotein in liver tissue of rats during postnatal development: comparison of the immunofluorescent and autoradiographic methods.

Localization of alpha-fetoprotein has been followed in the liver of rats of the Wistar strain from birth up to 37th day of life, and its presence was detected by means of the immunofluorescent and the autoradiographic methods. The former has shown alpha-fetoprotein to be localized in hepatocytes and the number of positive hepatocytes to decline proportionally with that of alpha-fetoprotein concentration in the serum. In newborn rats almost all the hepatocytes were found to be positive. During the course of the subsequent development of the liver tissue the number of positive hepatocytes decreases and at the time of the formation of the lobular structure only certain groups of lobes remain positive. The number of positive cells, gradually diminishes from the periphery towards the vena centralis. The autoradiographic method revealed only small groups of individual cells to be alpha-fetoprotein positive, without any specific localization.