The extraction and purification of Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) from human lung cancer cell line (HLC-1)

Abstract

Since 1965, Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) was extracted from metastatic liver specimens of colon cancer and purified with several techniques.
But, several investigators have struggled with the characteristics of CEA. And CEA could be detected at high plasma level with the lung cancer patients. But the nature of CEA in the lung cancer specimens was not analyzed precisely related to CEA from tumors of colon or other organ.
In this paper, CEA in the human lung cancer cell line, HLC-1 (CEA) was purified from the spent culture medium.
HLC-1 (CEA) was purified with the combination of gel filtration chromatography, affinity chromatography, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and agarose-IEF electrophoresis. Physicochemical properties of HLC-1 (CEA) was found to be similar to those of CEA from colon cancer derived liver metastatic specimens at the point of amino acids compositions, but slightly different at molecular weight, HLC-1 (CEA)=27×10⁴ dalton, and pI, HLC-1 (CEA)=4.4.
HLC-1 (CEA) was similar to colon cancer-derived CEA but differed from NCA-1, NCA-2 by means of immunodiffusion method using guinea pig anti-[HLC-1 (CEA)] serum.
Immuno-histochemical studies also revealed that HLC-1 (CEA) was cancer specific antigen but not lung cancer specific antigen.