An evaluation of ovarian carcinoma-associated antigen defined by murine monoclonal antibody CF511 in sera from patients with ovarian carcinoma.

Murine monoclonal antibody CF511, raised against human ovarian clear cell carcinoma, detects a glycoprotein (Mr 600 kDa) called CF511 antigen which is elevated in the serum of many patients with ovarian carcinoma. A competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was developed to detect CF511 antigen in human serum and used to detected CF511 antigen in subjects with ovarian carcinoma and other diseases. No raised levels (less than 18 unit (U) ml-1) of the antigen were found in the serum of 220 normal individuals or of patients with germ cell tumours (n = 6), granulosa theca cell tumour (n = 1), gastric carcinomas (n = 10) and colo-rectal carcinomas (n = 8). Raised serum levels of CF511 antigen were found in 6/46 patients (13.0%) with benign gynaecological tumours (including endometriosis or ovarian cyst), in 5/7 patients (71.4%) with breast carcinoma and 16/21 (76.2%) lung carcinoma patients. In patients with ovarian carcinoma, 42.3% (11/26) of stage I and II, and 96.0% (24/25) of stage III and IV had levels of greater than or equal to 18 U ml-1. In all patients with serial determination of CF511 antigen levels before and after the surgery, the levels of antigen correlated with the clinical course of disease. Determination of CF511 antigen levels may be useful for detection of ovarian carcinoma as well as lung and breast carcinomas and for monitoring progress of disease and response to therapy.