Carcinoembryonic antigen, ferritin, and tissue polypeptide antigen in serum and tissue. Relationship with the receptor content in breast carcinoma.

In 225 primary breast carcinomas the concentrations of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), ferritin, and tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA) were determined by radioimmunometric assays both in serum and in cytosol. The relationship of the three markers with the receptor content of the tumor was evaluated. No relationships were found between the serum level of each marker and the receptor status. In the cytosol, ferritin was higher in receptor-negative than in receptor-positive cases, whereas CEA and TPA showed significantly higher values in receptor-positive than in receptor-negative patients. Moreover, a direct relationship was found between estrogen receptor and both CEA and TPA and between progesterone receptor and TPA. Even if the significance of these findings is still unclear, from our data it can be concluded that there exists a noncasual relationship between the receptor status and the cytosol content of CEA and, particularly, TPA.