[Immune response in rabbits to tumoral tissue extracts of human colon]

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was purified after perchloric acid extraction of glycoprotein from human normal and tumoral colon. Antibodies against those extracts as well as purified CEA were raised in rabbits. Sera obtained from animals immunized with tumoral extract in protracted schemes showed disperse behavior on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) for proteins in the area with gamma, mobility which were markedly increased. In addition, a large increase of proteins with a mobility comparable to alpha 2 proteins was observed. The latter increase was not present in sera of rabbits immunized with normal colon extracts. Low titer antisera were obtained after immunization with either antigen as revealed by immunodiffusion. The relatively highest titers were seen against the glycoprotein fraction of tumor extracts which had previously been enriched by isoelectric focusing. Immunoelectrophoresis of tumor extracts against homologous antisera revealed bands with beta mobility due to the presence of CEA antibodies only in the sera of animals injected with tumor extracts. Antibody titers assayed by radioimmunoassay (RIA) revealed that the highest titers were obtained from tumor glycoprotein extracts was used as an immunogen. Measurements of CEA concentrations in serum of patients with low and high levels of CEA showed non significant differences by statistical analysis, when antisera obtained from different bleedings of the same animals were used. It is concluded that in order to establish a CEA RIA for clinical purposes it is necessary to purify up to the isoelectric focusing step the material to be labelled as tracer or used as standard. Antibody reagent may be obtained by immunizing schemes or protracted schemes using crude perchloric acid extracts of colon tumor.