[Oncofetal proteins--new developments]

Abstract

Adenocarcinoma-associated antigens which were newly detected by our monoclonal antibodies YH206 and MUSE 11 were characterized. The simultaneous determination of these novel antigens with CA19-9 was found useful for serodiagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Recently, the cDNAs corresponding to mRNA encoding a polypeptide of CEA were successfully cloned by Oikawa et al., and the amino acid sequence was determined. Topics on the research advance of the CEA gene family and carbohydrate structure of CEA molecule were reviewed. In addition, we have prepared anti-idiotypic monoclonal antibodies to anti-CEA specific MoAb, anti-YH206 MoAb as well as anti-melanoma MoAb. Clinical applications of these anti-idiotypic antibodies to serodiagnosis and new immunotherapy were discussed.