Isolation and partial characterization of a soluble oncofetal antigen from murine and human amniotic fluids.

A soluble (cell-free) oncofetal antigen (OFA) was detected in murine and human amniotic fluids by immunostaining with the murine monoclonal antibody (MAb 115) produced by syngeneic immunization with mid-gestational mouse fetal cells. OFA was purified from the amniotic fluids by ammonium sulfate precipitation at 30-70% saturation, followed by successive gel chromatography of the OFA-containing fraction on Sephacryl-S300 HR, Q- and S-Sepharoses and lentil lectin agarose. The fraction eluted from the lentil lectin column gave a single band on SDS-PAGE of the same molecular weight as the membrane-bound OFA found on both fetal and tumor tissues of humans and several rodents. Both soluble and membrane-bound OFAs share several chemical characteristics, including binding to lentil lectin and wheat-germ agglutinin, molecular weight (44 kDa) and pI (6.8). Mild periodate oxidation of OFA did not affect its binding to MAb 115 in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, indicating that the reactive epitope is a peptide.