Coupled gel electrophoresis-agar diffusion method for the detection of tumor antigens.

A gel electrophoretic method coupled with agar diffusion has been devised for detecting tumor antigens in human colon tissue. Separation of the antigens is achieved on duplicate electrophoretic gels. One gel is used for the location of the antigens by protein staining and the other gel is used for assaying of the antigenicity by agar diffusion against homologous antiserum. Analysis of perchloric acid extracts of colon tumors by this coupled method revealed the presence of carcinoembryonic antigen and two additional glycoprotein antigens. Analysis of KCl-HCl tumor extracts revealed two new tumor antigens.