Breast cancer mucin: an automated assay to detect mucus glycoproteins

Episialin, a mucus glycoprotein, is a well-known tumor-associated antigen used in a variety of tests to detect the presence of adenocarcinoma. With the introduction of the microparticle-captured enzyme immunoassay (MEIA), a new technique was introduced. We compared this assay with our standard method to detect adenocarcinomas, the measurement of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). In breast cancer, the breast cancer mucin (BCM) assay was more often positive in metastatic disease but was not better than CEA in stages I-III. In lung carcinomas, BCM and CEA gave similar results while in colorectal carcinoma, CEA was superior. BCM gave similar results to CA 15.3 in a group of breast cancer patients.