THE PAST DECADE HAS SEEN A GREAT IMPETUS IN THE SEARCH FOR TUMOR MARKERS FOR THE DETECTION AND MANAGEMENT OF CANCER.

THE PAST DECADE HAS SEEN A GREAT IMPETUS IN THE SEARCH FOR TUMOR MARKERS FOR THE DETECTION AND MANAGEMENT OF CANCER. THIS SEARCH HAS LED TO THE DISCOVERY OF SEVERAL OTHER CARCINOFETAL PROTEINS SUCH AS VARIENTS OF CEA AND ALPHA FETOPROTEINS. THE TUMOR MARKER, TENNESSEE ANTIGEN, APPEARS TO DIFFER SIGNIFICANTLY FROM CEA IN MOLECULAR WEIGHT, MOBILITY IN IMMUNOELECTROPHORESIS, CARBOHYDRATE RESIDUE CONTENTS AND MOST IMPORTANTLY IN ANTIGENICITY. THE CLINICAL EVALUATION OF THE ANTIGEN HAS BEEN DOCUMENTED USING A HEMAGGLUTINATION INHIBITION ASSAY (TENNAGEN ASSAY). THE STATISTICAL EVALUATION OF 7300 ASSAYS HAS BEEN DOCUMENTED AND APPEARS TO BE VERY PROMISING IN COLORECTAL AND LUNG CANCERS. THE REFINEMENT OF MEASUREMENT OF LEVELS OF TENNESSEE ANTIGEN USING THE ENZYME IMMUNOASSAY METHODOLOGY WILL INCREASE THE MARKER'S USE IN MONITORING CLINICAL COURSES OF TREATMENT. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO UTILIZE AVAILABLE TENNESSEE ANTIGEN AND ANTIBODY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ENZYME IMMUNOASSAY AND TO EVALUATE THE SENSITIVITY AND VALUE OF THE MARKER WHEN USING A MORE SENSITIVE METHODOLOGY THAN HEMAGGLUTINATION INHIBITION. THE ENZYME IMMUNOASSAY WILL ALLOW EXPANSION OF THE SCALE OF VALUES SO THAT ONE WOULD HAVE A GREATER DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN A NEGATIVE RANGE AND A POSITIVE RANGE AS COMPARED TO THE RANGE ALLOWED BY THE HEMAGGLUTINATION INHIBITION ASSAY. THE READABILITY OF THE ASSAY BY ELECTRONIC APPARATUS WILL BE MORE RELIABLE AND CONSISTENT BETWEEN USERS THAN THE HEMAGGLUTINATION INHIBITION ASSAY WHICH RELIES ON VISUAL INTERPRETATION.