Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in gallbladder bile and mucosa in cholecystolithiasis

Levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in gallbladder bile were determined in 36 patients with cholecystolithiasis, some of whom showed extremely high values. The gallbladder tissue's immunohistochemical reactivity was studied to evaluate the significance of high CEA levels in the bile. Positive reaction to anti-CEA serum absorbed with nonspecific cross-reacting antigen (NCA) was found in gallbladder tissue in 9/36 cases. This immunoreactivity was associated with high CEA levels in the bile. In these nine cases the reactivity was further studied in tests using anti-CEA serum absorbed with normal human bile or with biliary glycoprotein-I (BGP-I). The result was negative in five of the nine cases regarding immunoreactivity to anti-CEA serum absorbed with normal human bile, but in none of the tests using anti-CEA serum absorbed with BGP-I. The observations suggest that the gallbladder epithelium may produce CEA and/or some CEA-related antigens, except to NCA and BGP-I, and that the CEA level in bile may be raised in the inflammatory process of cholecystolithiasis. The relationship between the CEA immunoreactivity and the histopathologic changes in the gallbladder is also discussed.