New Antigens and Monoclonal Antibodies for Serological Diagnosis, Follow-up, and Scintigraphic Localization in Pancreatic Cancer

Abstract

Two new tumor-associated antigens which were detected by monoclonal antibodies have been introduced into clinical routine during the past 2 years. CA 19-9 was introduced by the work of del Villano et al. [4] after detection by Koprowski et al. [22] as a new antigen for gastrointestinal oncology, especially for pancreatic cancer. CA 125 was introduced by the work of Bast et al. [2] for diagnosis and follow-up of ovarian cancer disease. Bast et al. also demonstrated that CA 125 should be accepted as the tumor marker of choice for ovarian cancer disease as opposed to carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). The superiority of CA 19-9 in pancreatic cancer disease was demonstrated by our group in 1983 [11]: CA 19-9 showed a sensitivity of more than 80% for detecting pancreatic cancer compared with only 30% for CEA. Many studies have confirmed these data during the past 2 years, as demonstrated at the Second Tumor Marker Meeting at Hamburg in December 1984 [7]. In addition, Bast et al. [2] and our group [13] have demonstrated that CA 125 may also play a role in some patients suffering from gastrointestinal or pancreatic cancer disease. This paper will therefore deal with the importance of CA 19-9 and CA 125 as new tumor-associated antigens and with their monoclonal antibodies in the field of pancreatic cancer.