Immunohistological study of isoantigens, carcinoembryonic antigen and human chorionic gonadotropin in adenocarcinomas of the uterus.

Isoantigens, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) were simultaneously studied by immunohistology in the cervical and endometrial adenocarcinomas. Isoantigen loss was observed in all adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS) of the uterus. However, they appeared again in some tumor cells in 8 of 23 cervical and 4 of 41 endometrial adenocarcinomas. CEA was positive in 1 of 4 AIS and 22 of 23 adenocarcinomas of the cervix. It was distributed continuously in the apical portion and/or in the whole cytoplasm of tumor cells. On the other hand, CEA was positive only in 16 of 41 endometrial adenocarcinomas. It was strongly positive in the squamous elements, but weakly and sparsely in the apical portion and/or in the cytoplasm of some isolated glandular cells which occasionally showed a tendency to squamous differentiation. The majority of neoplastic glands, however, were negative for CEA. HCG was positive in 1 of 23 cervical and 3 of 41 endometrial adenocarcinomas. Two or 3 antigens were found concomitantly in some tumors, but localized differently from each other. It was concluded from the present study that the simultaneous examination of multiple antigens may be useful for characterization of adenocarcinomas of the uterus.