Background: Although carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is the most frequently used marker for colon cancer, it is elevated in only 70% of patients with advanced disease and in even fewer patients with earlier stages of disease. We previously identified a 90-kDa glycoprotein, TA90, which is present in serum in the form of circulating immune complexes. TA90 is found in a variety of solid neoplasms but rarely in healthy controls (3.2%). We hypothesized that this new tumor-associated antigen may be a useful marker for colon cancer.
Methods: Serum samples from 59 patients with known colon adenocarcinoma were analyzed for the presence of CEA and TA90. Fifty-one (86%) patients had distant metastases; the remaining patients had clinically localized primary colon cancer. A murine monoclonal antibody-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure concentrations of TA90-specific circulating immune complexes (TA90-IC). A positive value was defined as an optical density of more than 0.410 at 405 nm. Forty-seven (80%) of the 59 patients had serum samples for TA90 and CEA drawn at the same time.
Results: TA90-IC concentrations were elevated more frequently than CEA concentrations (82.9% vs. 70.2%; P = .134). The combination of both markers identified more patients with colon carcinoma than did either marker alone (93.6%; P < .001).
Conclusions: Concomitant use of TA90-IC and CEA identified 93.6% of patients with advanced colon cancer. The role of TA90-IC in screening and monitoring progression of earlier disease deserves further investigation.