Monoclonal antibody-mediated detection of lung cancer antigens in serum

We assessed the ability of three monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) (5E8, 5C7, and 1F10) to detect tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) in the sera of patients seen in consultation by the Pulmonary Disease Section at the Philadelphia Veterans Administration Medical Center from September through November 1987. Eighteen of the 61 sera were obtained from patients with histologically established lung cancer. Using a semiquantitative enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA), TAAs were detected by the MAb panel in the sera of 12 lung cancer patients, yielding a sensitivity of 67% with a 95% confidence interval of 44 to 84%. The frequency of TAA detection varied among cell types and stages of disease. There were eight false positives and 35 true negatives, giving a specificity of 81% with a 95% confidence interval of 67 to 90%. Two of the false positives came from patients with nonpulmonary tumors known to cross-react with the MAbs (laryngeal and gastric carcinoma). The panel was able to distinguish patients with lung cancer from those without to a highly significant degree (chi 2 = 11.2 with 1 df, p less than 0.001). This study suggests that MAb-mediated detection of serum TAAs may be useful in diagnosing and characterizing lung cancers.