Cancer antigen 15/3: possible diagnostic use in veterinary clinical oncology. Preliminary study

The cancer antigen 15/3 is a mucin that is associated with the cell membrane, encoded by the MUC1 gene, and recognized by the monoclonal-clone DF3 antibody. The latter antigen was discovered to be specific for both the identification of human mammary neoplasia and during patient follow-up evaluations. The aim of this study is to report and compare the results of the application of direct chemiluminescence in canine blood sera and the kit utilized in human medicine for the determination of Ca 15/3 to verify the diagnostic efficiency of the kit in cases presenting mammary tumors. Specifically, CA 15/3 has proven to be measurable in all samples assayed to distinguish clinically healthy subjects from those with mammary neoplasia.