| Popis: |
Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is a useful test in clinical oncology. It is of proven value as a tumor marker, as a predictor of metastatic disease, and as a prognostic indicator of clinical remission or relapse. Serial CEA determinations are particularly useful in colorectal cancer, but good correlation with clinical stage and with survival has been observed also in breast carcinoma, gynecological, and other cancers. Potential usefulness is now well demonstrated in the histopathological evaluation of tumors capable of synthesizing CEA. The subject has been extensively reviewed (Westwood 1977; Freedman, 1977; Reynoso and Keane, 1979; Reynoso, 1981). A panel of experts assembled in August of 1977 (Norgaard-Pederson and Axelson, 1978) summarized the then current biochemical, immunological, methodological, and clinical aspects of the field and identified a series of questions to which no answers were then available. Paramount among the unanswered questions was the possible existence of epitopes in CEA molecules specific for cancer. It is the purpose of this chapter to review the contributions of hybridoma methodology to our understanding of the immunobiology of CEA and to analyze the progress so far made with monoclonal antibodies in the continuing goal of developing a cancer-specific CEA assay. |
