Present status of the zinc glycinate marker (ZGM).

ZGM was purified from both primary and metastatic colonic carcinomas demonstrably positive for ZGM by immunofluorescence microscopy. ZGM purification included preparative Pevikon electrophoresis, Sepharose 4B molecular exclusion chromatography and Con A-Sepharose affinity chromatography. ZGM had an alpha2 electrophoretic mobility, an estimated molecular weight by Sepharose 4B equal to or greater than 2 x 10(6), and did not bind to Con A-Sepharose, although having determinants with CEA-like activity. Its immunologic activity was resistant to trypsin or phospholipase A but not to neuraminidase. Antisera prepared to ZGM and absorbed with saliva, when tested by double immunodiffusion, formed a single precipitation line with saline extracts of colon tumors and did not cross-react with CEA, AFP, normal tissue extracts, ferritin, NCA, NCA-2, CSAp, blood groups A, B, H, Lewis antigen, or buffy coat, alpha-2 macroglobulin, saliva or ovarian cyst fluid. Immunofluorescence microscopy confirmed the presence of ZGM in 40 out of 45 adenocarcinomas of the GI tract staining primarily in tumors, the apical cytoplasm, and in grossly nonmalignant tissues, the deep crypts of the villi, while all of 22 non-GI tumors in the study were ZGM negative.

[Postoperative reflux gastritis]. / Réalité de la gastrite postopératoire par reflux.

Postoperative reflux gastritis is generally considered a definite clinical syndrome. It is the possible sequel to any gastric surgery suppressing pyloric continence. Incidence of this complication is still difficult to evaluate, whereas enterogastric reflux is often seen during endoscopy. 75 patients were studied clinically and endoscopically, and their gastric mucosa histologically, after gastric surgery. Results were compared to those in a 2nd group of patients whose reflux induced symptoms had been brought under control by endoscopically confirmed surgical correction of reflux. Enterogastric reflux is common (80%), but its effect on the gastric mucosa is observed endoscopically only when it is relatively marked (69%). Clinical suspicion of reflux gastritis is most often confirmed by endoscopy, but endoscopic reflux gastritis is symptomatic in only half of patients undergoing surgery. Foveolar hyperplasia is the only histological criterion related to reflux gastritis.

Tissue localization of zinc glycinate marker and carcinoembryonic antigen by immunofluorescence. I. Preparation of antisera against the zinc glycinate marker.

Antisera against the zinc glycinate marker (ZGM) were produced in New Zealand White rabbits with induced tolerance to normal tissue components and CEA, and in mature, previously uninoculated rabbits for use in immunofluorescent histologic localization of ZGM in colon cancers and other tissues. Analysis of the antisera by immunodiffusion and counterimmunoelectrophoretic techniques showed them to be specific for ZGM when tested with ZGM, carcinoembryonic antigen, normal tissue extracts, or cell elements of normal blood.

Tissue localization of zinc glycinate marker and carcinoembryonic antigen by immunofluorescence. II. Immunofluorescence microscopy.

Preliminary indirect immunofluorescence studies on the zinc glycinate marker (ZGM) were compared with carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) immunofluorescence, ZGM, detected in 26 of 29 human colon adenocarcinomas, was associated with the epithelial component of the malignant glands. Fluorescence was generally less strong and more granular for ZGM than for CEA and was found in intraglandular spaces, luminal border areas, and cytoplasm. ZGM concentration and tissue localization appeared to be related to tumor differentiation. ZGM was also detected in benign colon mucosae (adjacent to and distant from the carcinomas) from patients with colon carcinoma, but differed from CEA in that it was present in the deep crypt portion only. Gastric, pancreatic, esophageal, and anal adenocarcinomas, as well as benign gastric pyloric and small bowel mucosae had detectable ZGM. CEA, but not ZGM, was observed in 20 nongastrointestinal carcinomas to date. Studies are under way to determine whether ZGM is a marker associated with colon and gastrointestinal adenocarcinoma specifically or undifferentiated crypt cells of the colon and digestive tract in general.

The zinc glycinate marker in human colon carcinoma.

In an attempt to identify new tumor markers in human colon carcinoma, we produced antisera in rabbits tolerant to normal human tissue antigens and immunized with zinc glycinate-treated extracts of liver metastases from a colon carcinoma. These antisera reacted with carcinoembryonic antigen and with an additional component present in the tumor extracts but not detected in the extracts of normal tissues. The new component, the zinc glycinate marker (ZGM), had an alpha2 mobility on immunoelectrophoresis, was soluble in 1 M perchloric acid, and had a molecular weight of approximately 2X10(6), as indicated by its elution pattern on Sepharose 6-B chromatography. It differed from alpha fetoprotein, nonspecific cross-reacting antigens (NCA, NGP, or CCA III), ferritin-like molecules, and blood group substances A, B, H, Lewis a, and Lewis b. The ZGM was similarly identified in saline or zinc glycinate extracts of 11 of 23 carcinomas of the colon. With routine hematoxylineosin staining, no histologic differences were apparent between tumors bearing the antigen and those without it.