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Heterogeneity of carcinoembryonic antigen and its fractionation by con A affinity chromatography

Abstract

THE term carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was first used by Gold and Freedman to describe a tumour-associated antigen found in the cellular membrane of adenocarcinomas from endodermally derived digestive system epithelia1. It is conveniently prepared from liver metastases of primary colonic tumours by initial extraction with perchloric acid followed by Sepharose 4B and Sephadex G-200 chromatography2,3. Initial optimism about the specific occurrence of CEA in digestive tract tumours and in the serum of patients with such lesions has not been sustained and CEA is now known to occur in both normal colonic mucosa and other normal tissues4 and in the sera of normal individuals, although in relatively low amounts5. Elevated levels of CEA have been found in a wide variety of neoplastic diseases and also in non-neoplastic disorders such as gastrointestinal polyps, alcohol cirrhosis, uraemia and inflammatory bowel disease6–8.

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ROGERS, G., SEARLE, F. & BAGSHAWE, K. Heterogeneity of carcinoembryonic antigen and its fractionation by con A affinity chromatography. Nature 251, 519–521 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/251519a0

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