Carcinoembryonic antigen and blood group-related carbohydrate antigens in glycoproteins in human bile in hepatolithiasis. Japanese Study Group of Hepatolithiasis.

We investigated whether carbohydrate antigens on biliary glycoproteins and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) are related to hepatolithiasis. CEA, ABO, and Lewis blood group-related antigens, as well as sialyl-Tn antigen in hepatic bile, were analyzed by Western blotting in samples from 12 patients with hepatolithiasis and 37 with other biliary diseases (choledocholithiasis, 13; cholecystolithiasis, 5; acute cholecystitis, 2; cholangiocarcinoma, 5; common bile duct carcinoma, 4; pancreatic carcinoma, 6; and metastatic carcinoma of liver, 2). CEA was positive on mucinous glycoprotein in six patients (50%) with hepatolithiasis and one case (17%) with pancreatic carcinoma. CEA was also positive on a glycoprotein of approximately 200 kd in eight patients (67%) with hepatolithiasis and two (33%) with pancreatic carcinoma. Lewis X was detected on the mucinous glycoprotein in almost all samples, as well as on glycoproteins of approximately 180 kd in all hepatolithiasis samples and approximately half of those from patients with other diseases. Sialyl-Tn antigen was detected on mucinous glycoprotein in four (80%) with cholangiocarcinoma, two (50%) with common bile duct carcinoma, and all pancreatic carcinoma samples. Mucinous glycoprotein and glycoproteins containing CEA and Lewis X antigens are enriched in hepatic bile of hepatolithiasis, and they may be closely related to the formation of intrahepatic calculi. Sialyl-Tn antigen in biliary mucinous glycoprotein will be a good marker of biliary and pancreatic carcinoma, and probably for cholangiocarcinoma complicated with hepatolithiasis.