Demonstration of two ovarian tumor-associated antigens in primary and metastatic breast, gastric, and colonic tumors.

Abstract

The presence of two ovarian tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) defined by monoclonal antibodies BC3 and CC4 in primary and metastatic breast, gastric, and colonic malignant tumors was determined by immunohistochemistry. The BC3 TAA was present in all gastric, colonic, and breast tumors, typically with a large proportion of tumor cells expressing antigen. The CC4 TAA was present in most of these tumors, generally with a lower proportion of tumor cells expressing antigen compared with that of BC3. Both of these TAAs were found in some epithelial cells in normal breast, stomach, and colon, however, the location of the two TAAs in normal tissue was different. With the use of both antibodies, an increase in the number of tumor cell-positive lymph nodes was found in patients with breast, gastric, colonic, and ovarian tumors, including detection of micrometastases in nodes from patients considered node negative on purely morphologic grounds. Immunohistochemical detection of micrometastases derived from adenocarcinomas appears to be superior to purely morphologic detection.