Identity of brain-associated small cell lung cancer antigen and the CD56 (NKH-1/Leu-19) leukocyte differentiation antigen and the neural cell adhesion molecule.

Previous studies have demonstrated the monoclonal antibody, TFS-4, to recognize a cell surface antigen, 124,000 Daltons, of molecular weight expressed selectively on small cell lung cancer but not on non-small cell lung cancer, and to cross-react with the human brain, cardiac muscle and some smooth muscle cells. The cross-reactivity of TFS-4 with peripheral blood lymphocytes was examined by two color immunofluorescence analysis, using monoclonal antibodies to leukocyte differentiation antigens. Flow cytometric analysis revealed an identical subset of cells to express both BASCA and CD56(NKH-1 antigen). The immunofluorescence profiles for both TFS-4 and NKH-1 were, furthermore, identical to those of the background controls, identicating identical quantities of the antigens to be present on each cell within the population. Since CD56 has been show to be identical to the neural cell adhesion molecule (N-CAM), we determined the amino-terminal amino acid sequence of BASCA purified from the human brain. The amino-terminal amino acid sequence of BASCA was identical to that of N-CAM.