Detection of circulating tumour-associated antigens in serum of women with cervical neoplasia. Use of rabbit antiserum to a continuous cancer cell line (C-4111).

Hyperimmune rabbit sera to partially purified human cervical cancer tissue antigen (CaCxTAA) and to human cervical cancer culture cell line antigens (C-4II-TAA) were used to demonstrate circulating tumour-associated antigens (C-TAA) in the sera of women with cervical neoplasia. Rabbit anti-CaCx serum detected C-TAA in 80% of the 60 sera from women with invasive cancer, cancer in situ and severe dysplasia and the rabbit anti-C-4II serum detected 67% of these cases. Negative reactions were obtained in over 95% of the 154 control sera with either rabbit serum. These results suggest that, in view of the difficulty of obtaining large specimens of cervical cancer tissues for the development of immunodiagnostic procedures, the use of a cervical cancer cell line, such as C-4II, appears desirable. Such cell lines would also be advantageous for studies aimed at providing further support for the association between genital herpes simplex virus infection and human cervical cancer.