Induction of carcinoembryonic antigen and its crossreactive gene products in human colonic adenomas and carcinomas by transforming growth factor-beta.

The inducing effect of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-B) on carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) secretion and the cellular expression of CEA and CEA crossreactive glycoproteins (CEA-GLY) was examined from a panel of human colonic cell lines with different phenotypic classification. This panel included carcinomas with dissimilar differentiation characteristics and metastatic behavior, and premalignant adenomas derived from colonic polyps. A great degree of heterogeneity was observed in the endogenous levels of CEA secretion and the cellular expression of CEA and CEA-GLY species. The response profiles of the different cell lines to TGF-B treatment were also found to be heterogenous. However, TGF-B was able to induce CEA secretion and up-modulated the cellular expression of CEA and CEA-GLY from a majority of the cells tested. More importantly, TGF-B was able to exert these effects on carcinoma cells that secrete or express minimal or nondetectable amounts of these glycoproteins. These biologic modifying effects of TGF-B may have potential in augmenting the efficacy of CEA as a colon cancer marker, and in antibody-directed radioimaging and therapeutics. Further investigation in vivo in an experimental animal model system is warranted.