Detection of carcinoembryonic antigen in tissue sections by immunoperoxidase.

A triple-bridge, indirect, immunoperoxidase method for detecting and localizing carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in tissue sections is described. By this technique, a cell-surface localization of CEA in colonic carcinoma and ovarian mucinous cystadenocarcinoma cells could be visualized. In the case of the colonic cancer, both the tumor from the descending colon and a metastasis to the skin gave positive peroxidase reactions for CEA. This immunocytochemical method for demonstrating the presence of CEA functioned in both frozen, ethanol-fixed and formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues, thus making it applicable for use with tissue sections conventionally prepared for light microscopy.