Identification of a common oncofoetal protein in x-ray and chemically induced rat gastrointestinal tumours.

An apparently unique circulating common oncofoetal protein has been identified in rat small-bowel, colonic and pancreatic adenocarcinomas. The tumours were induced by ionizing radiation (small bowel), an alkyl hydrocarbon, 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (colon) and a polyaromatic hydrocarbon, 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (pancreas). The oncofoetal protein was identified by the use of specific xenogenic antitumour rabbit sera generated to the X-ray-induced neoplasm. In addition, the foetal protein was also found always to occur in the liver and lungs of those animals bearing the chemically induced tumours as well as in their serum. These results suggest the existence of a close relationship at the molecular level in the tumorigenic processes, even though induction is by apparently different mechanisms, for cancers arising in tissue or common embryonic origin.