In vivo localization of human colon adenocarcinoma by monoclonal antibody binding to a highly expressed cell surface antigen.

We have produced a monoclonal antibody (SF-25) against a human hepatoma cell line (FOCUS) that strongly reacts with an antigen shared by all six colon adenocarcinoma cell lines. This cell surface antigen was uniformly expressed in all 17 human adenocarcinomas of the colon obtained at surgery but not on the normal adjacent mucosa counterpart. Other normal tissues were negative except for a population of cells in the distal tubule of the kidney as shown by immunoperoxidase staining and direct binding to membrane preparations. Binding of this Mr 125,000 antigen to antibody is disrupted by detergents, sodium dodecyl sulfate, and paraformaldehyde fixation but not by treatment of FOCUS cells with trypsin. The SF-25 antibody when labeled with 125I shows a striking capacity by both biodistribution and nuclear imaging studies to localize human colon adenocarcinoma grown as solid tumors in nude mice. SF-25 may be useful in distinguishing between normal colon and the transformed phenotype.