Immunohistology of the antigenic pattern of a continuous cell line from a human colon tumor

The antigenic surface pattern of a continuous cell line (HT29) derived from a human primary carcinoma of the colon was studied by the immunofluorescence technique. Monovalent and polyvalent immune sera were used. The cells of this long-term culture kept the ability to synthesize the three principal colon tumor antigens: carcinoembryonic and nonspecific cross-reacting antigens, and the membrane-associated tissular autoantigen. On the HT29 cells, which still carry the original blood group of the tumor donor, no receptors for human Ig's were detected.