Historical development and potential uses of tumor antigens as markers of human cancer growth.

During the past 30 years, the rapidly developing and changing concepts and technology of the discipline of immunobiology have been applied to studies in oncology. After the definitive demonstration of so-called tumor-specific transplantation antigens in chemically and virally induced tumors in syngeneic rodent and murine species, numerous efforts were then directed toward the demonstration of comparable materials in human tumors. After a number of false starts in an overzealous search for a marker that would serve as a panacea for human cancer diagnosis, more rational approaches have been taken to the problem and valuable information from the points of view of both the cell biologist and clinical oncologist has been forthcoming. The present paper presents an overview of human tumor antigens as biological markers of tumor growth. Reference is made to the fact that normally occurring biological materials of known function that are qualitatively and/or quantitatively altered during the process of malignant transformation may be most useful in the diagnosis and management of the cancer patient. The role of the presently available radioimmunoassays for carcinoembryonic antigen in clinical medicine is outlined.