Quantitative and qualitative characterization of human cancer-associated serum glycoprotein antigens expressing fucosyl or sialyl-fucosyl type 2 chain polylactosamine.

The quantity of tumor-associated antigens carrying type 2 chain polylactosamines with four types of fucosyl determinants, LeX (X-hapten), poly-LeX, sialyl LeX, and LeY (Y-hapten), present in sera of patients with various malignant and non-malignant disorders, as well as the qualitative chemical properties of the carrier molecules in sera, have been investigated using four monoclonal antibodies, each of which defines one of these determinants. The following findings are of particular importance: the serum levels of LeX defined by antibody FH2 and poly-LeX defined by ACFH18 in patients with cancer were occasionally high (incidence about 10%); however, the majority of patients did not show elevated levels; the serum level of the antigen, defined by monoclonal antibody FH6 (termed sialyl LeX-i since this determinant is carried by i antigen), was significantly high in patients with cancers originating from organs from which adenocarcinomas often develop. For example, among various types of lung cancer, only adenocarcinoma but not squamous cell carcinoma, small cell carcinoma, or large cell carcinoma showed a high level of sialyl LeX-i antigen in sera. The incidence of high antigen levels in sera of patients with adenocarcinomas of lung was as high as 76% of the observed cases; the serum level of Ley (Y-hapten) was frequently high in patients with hepatoma (incidence, 34%); sialyl LeX-i antigen was separated on gel filtration as a glycoprotein with an average molecular weight greater than 10(6). It was characterized by its susceptibility to basehydrolysis, Pronase digestion, and sialidase and endo-beta-galactosidase treatment and is assumed to be a high molecular weight mucin-type glycoprotein; sialyl LeX-i antigen expressed in sera of patients with cancer was soluble in perchloric acid, while the same antigen in sera of patients with noncancerous diseases and normal subjects was mostly insoluble in perchloric acid. LeX, a poly-LeX, and essentially all LeY antigens in sera of patients with cancer were perchloric acid-insoluble.