Immuno-histochemical localization of tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA) and carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA) in breast cancer. A comparative study.

The presence of Tissue Polypeptide Antigen (TPA) and Carcino-embryonic Antigen (CEA) in serial sections of 32 breast carcinomas and one case of neurofibrosarcoma was demonstrated by immunocytochemistry using the indirect peroxidase technique. The neurofibrosarcoma was negative for TPA and CEA. All 32 specimens of breast cancer were positive for TPA and/or CEA. In 12 cases the staining was strongly positive for both TPA and CEA. In other cases either TPA or CEA was more abundant in the tumor. The overall concordance of staining was 58%, which is in relative agreement with the correlation between values for TPA and CEA in serum from patients with breast cancer. The finding that in addition to the difference between tumors, there was a difference within tumors was interesting. This indicated that TPA and CEA may be synthesized during partly different phases of the proliferative cycle.