Cancer-associated serum globulin determined in patients with cervical, endometrial and ovarian cancer.

By using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, sera were tested on cancer-associated globulin from female patients bearing gynaecological cancers: 45 cervical, 21 endometrial and 38 ovarian. As a control, normal sera were taken from 97 healthy women. Sera were also taken from patients with benign neoplasias: 59 cervical dysplasias, 72 endometrial fibromyomas and 47 ovarian cystadenomas. The cancer-associated globulin was evaluated, as an antibody to a cancer antigen that consists of ceramide-lactoside conjugated to a protein integrated in a tumor cell membrane. This serum globulin can be shown densitometrically as the fourth post-transferrin peak (PTP 4). It was found in 69% cervical cancer patients, 52% of the endometrial cancer patients and 89% of the ovarian cancer patients. False positive results were detected in 11% of the normal sera and 25% of the sera from patients with benign neoplasias.