Detection of tumour-associated antigens in human bronchogenic carcinoma by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed in which a tumour-specific component of human squamous-cell carcinoma of the lung could be readily detected using an absorbed rabbit antiserum. This antiserum did not react with equivalent preparations made from pooled normal lung tissue. In a study using the coded sera from normal individuals and preoperative patients subsequently shown to have Stage I bronchogenic carcinoma of various histological types, we found that the patients' sera effectively inhibited the reaction between the rabbit antiserum and the partially purified tumour antigen, whereas the serum from normal individuals did not.