Monoclonal antibody G47 engineered to be reactive with colorectal tumor mucin

We have previously shown that the normal adult colon produces a sialomucin containing the core trisaccharide 1,3 N-acetylgalactosamine. This structure was shown to be the epitope for a polyclonal antiserum that demonstrated colon "specific" activity. Antiserum binding is dependent upon the presence of O-acetylated sialic acids present at high concentrations in normal adult colon tissue. However, O-acetylation of sialic acids is decreased in colorectal cancer. Indeed, approximately 50% of colorectal carcinomas are nonreactive with this antiserum. In the current work, we used a de-O-acetylated, normal colon mucin as immunogen to generate monoclonal antibody (MAb) G47. Untreated normal colon mucins having a high O-acetylated sialic acid content were essentially nonreactive with G47. Removal of O-acetyl groups by saponification generated a reactive mucin derivative while subsequent treatment with neuraminidase abolished reactivity. By immunoperoxidase procedures MAb-G47 was reactive with approximately 85% of colorectal tumors while exhibiting relatively low reactivity with normal colon tissue. Mucins isolated from normal colon had on average less than 10% of the specific epitope as compared with mucins derived from colorectal tumors (p < 0.01). Initial immunohistochemical studies on tumors of noncolonic origin revealed few positive cases. The potential of MAb-G47 to assist in the diagnosis and/or prognosis of colorectal cancer is now being studied.