Biomedical subjects

E W Blank

Publications and source records attributed to E W Blank.

31 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1990

Effect of dietary fat and monoclonal antibody therapy on the growth of human mammary adenocarcinoma MX-1 grafted in athymic mice.

A diet containing 11% per weight fish oils (Max-EPA) reduced the rate of growth of a transplantable human breast tumor (MX-1) grafted into immunodeficient mice (BALB/c, nu/nu) when compared to MX-1 tumors in mice fed polyunsaturated (corn oil) and saturated (lard) fatty acids; however, there was no difference between the corn oil and lard animal groups. Treatment with a cocktail of monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) decreased the rat of growth of MX-1 in the corn oil fed animals but not in those fed lard or Max-EPA, but the rate of tumor growth of the Max-EPA treated group, either MoAb treated or not, was slower than that of the corn oil and lard groups.

Adenocarcinoma↗

PubMed1990

Diagnostic ability of different human milk fat globule antigens in breast cancer.

Human mammary epithelial antigens (HME-Ags) are released into the circulation by breast tumors and not by normal breast tissue (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 74: 582-586, 1977). This characteristic made them valuable, together with other breast cancer related antigens later identified, to develop immunoassays useful in the follow-up of breast cancer. Assays for these antigens in serum have less than complete sensitivity and partial specificity, and as a result of this have not been totally successful in studying the relapsing breast cancer patient. In the present work, correlations are made among 3 assays available for breast cancer disease follow-up. They detect HME-Ags, CEA, and the heavy molecular weight mucin of the human milk fat globule (HMFG). Values for sensitivity and specificity for the 3 assays were obtained from approximately 300 samples of patients whose clinical diagnosis at the time of blood drawing was rigorously established. A small but definite advantage in sensitivity is demonstrated for the HME-Ags assay over the other two. A similar advantage is also demonstrated in the sequential follow-up of breast cancer patients, where HME-Ags respond more rapidly in most instances to changes in tumor burden. Further, the ability of increases in levels of these assays to predict relapse was studied in 15 patients who relapsed. HME-Ags demonstrated a predictive value of 73%, while CEA and the heavy molecular weight mucin remained at 47%. The present study exemplifies the search for novel antigens (Ags) with maximal ability to detect breast cancer relapse and with improved sensitivity to monitor tumor burden changes. Here, assays for different antigens to be compared are tested in the same serum samples obtained from carefully staged patients. The results suggest a role as breast cancer markers for antigens of lower molecular weight than the epithelial mucin-like components studied previously.

Antigens, Neoplasm↗

PubMed1990

Biochemical and histological characterization of antigens preferentially expressed on the surface and cytoplasm of breast carcinoma cells identified by monoclonal antibodies against the human milk fat globule.

The preparation of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against the human milk fat globule membrane with preferential binding to breast carcinoma cells is described. Using BALB/c mouse myeloma cells; inter-specific, intra-strain, and inter-strain hybridomas were isolated that identified three different components of the human milk fat globule of approximately 46,000, and 70,000 daltons and a mucin-like glycoprotein complex (NPGP) ranging from 400,000 to over a million daltons, respectively. Three MAbs (BrE1, BrE2, BrE3) identified the latter component which consists of at least three different size molecules for which the aforementioned MAb's have different binding specificities. MAbs, BrE2 and BrE3, bound to normal breast epithelial cells but to a lesser extent than to tumors and only at the apical surface facing the lumen, while they bound breast carcinomas strongly, and often in the cytoplasm as well as on the surface. Higher concentrations of BrE3 were required to stain normal breast compared to breast tumors. BrE1 also stained breast carcinomas both on the surface and cytoplasmically but did not stain normal breast tissue. The MAb, Mc13, as well as the previously reported MAb McR2, both against the 70,000 dalton component, did not significantly stain either normal or cancerous breast tissue in histological sections but did bind significantly to cultured breast epithelial cells and to the milk fat globule membrane. The MAbs, Mc8 and Mc3, reported previously to be against the 46,000 dalton component, stained histologically only malignant breast tissue but only weakly; however, they bound strongly to intact breast carcinoma cells and breast cell membrane preparations with a radioimmunobinding assay. These MAbs should be useful in characterizing the surface of breast epithelial cells, studying surface alterations in malignancy, and possibly in breast cancer diagnosis and therapy.

Animals↗

PubMed1989

Fish oil enhancement of 131I-conjugated anti-human milk fat globule monoclonal antibody experimental radioimmunotherapy of breast cancer.

BALB/c nude mice (nu/nu) carrying established human transplantable breast tumors (MX-1) and fed fat from either fish oil (MaxEPA), corn oil, or lard, were treated with either an unconjugated mixture or an 131I-labeled cocktail of Mc1, Mc3, Mc5 and Mc8 four anti-human milk fat globule monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs). MaxEPA diet by itself reduced mean volume of tumor MX-1 to 36% below that of both the corn oil and lard diets. Injection of unconjugated MoAbs reduced tumor volumes only in corn oil fed nude mice when each group was compared to their respective controls. Treatment with 131I-MoAbs produced large tumor volume reductions in all groups with the three different diets. The greatest reduction was obtained with the synergistic effect of MaxEPA and 131I-labeled MoAbs.

Animals↗

PubMed1988

Experimental therapy of human breast tumors with 131I-labeled monoclonal antibodies prepared against the human milk fat globule.

Breast tumors are susceptible to attack by unconjugated anti-human milk fat globule monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) and most particularly by their mixture (cocktail) (Cancer Res., 47: 532-540, 1987). In the present study the same MoAbs (Mc1, Mc3, Mc5, and Mc8) labeled with 131I, either singly or in cocktails, were used for a similar purpose. Biodistribution studies showed that a transplantable human breast tumor line (MX-1) implanted in BALB/c nude mice (nu/nu) had the maximum incorporation of injected 131I-MoAbs at day 4 while levels in circulation and in normal tissue declined steadily from day 1. Also, these studies showed that the amount of radiolabeled Mc3 MoAb incorporated by MX-1 tumors was greater than that for cocktail of MoAbs and MoAb Mc5. Tumor destruction by injected 131I-MoAb cocktail was shown in therapy experiments to be dose dependent. A single injection (1500 [corrected] microCi/mouse) of 131I-MoAb Mc3, or of cocktail, produced large breast tumor volume diminution and inhibition of growth for up to 30 days while a similar dose of 131I-labeled control IgG had no effect. A second dose of 1500 [corrected] microCi 131I-MoAb of Mc3 or of cocktail, injected at an appropriate interval, again diminished tumor mass significantly and inhibited its growth for another 20 days. In control experiments, non-breast tumors (colon) were marginally affected by the 131I-MoAbs. These results show that the systemic injection of radioiodinated MoAbs against human milk fat globule destroy the epithelial cells of human breast tumors and control their growth for an appreciable length of time. Radioiodoconjugated MoAbs proved to be more effective than unconjugated MoAbs in reducing breast tumor mass and also in inhibiting growth for longer periods of time at immunoglobulin doses 100 to 200 times lower. Further exploration of their role in breast cancer treatment seems warranted by these results.

Animals↗

PubMed1987

Experimental immunotherapy of human breast carcinomas implanted in nude mice with a mixture of monoclonal antibodies against human milk fat globule components.

Immunological therapy of BALB/c nude mice (nu/nu) implanted with human breast tumors, estrogen receptor negative MX-1 and estrogen receptor-positive MCF-7, was carried out with four monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) raised against human milk fat globule membrane glycoproteins also present on normal breast epithelial cells. MoAbs injected singly or as a partial mixture arrested growth of the tumors but to a lesser extent than a mixture ("cocktail") of all four MoAbs. Two model systems were developed in order to examine the capabilities of the four MoAbs to arrest human mammary tumor growth. In the first model the ability of these MoAbs to arrest tumor growth during a 6- to 8-week period was tested by injection of the MoAbs immediately before and after implantation (passive immunization) and thereafter every other day. In the second model the effect of these MoAbs on established and growing tumors was tested. Using the cocktail in the passive immunization protocol, human mammary tumor growth in nu/nu mice was arrested either completely or averaging to one-tenth the size of the controls for those mice in which the tumors had taken. Other human carcinomas, colon and lung, under the same protocol, were not affected. Injection of cocktail every 2 days into nu/nu mice with established and growing human breast tumors (both estrogen receptor positive and negative) produced arrests of tumor growth of 44.1, 45.2, 49.8% of their controls after 7 to 8 days of treatment. Previously, it has been established that human mammary tumors are heterogeneous in expression of the human milk fat globule antigens recognized by our antibodies to the extent that some cells may have large amounts and others no detectable amount of a particular antigen. Those MX-1 tumors treated for a prolonged time with the cocktail of MoAbs that survived and continued to grow could be the result of the preferential multiplication of those cells in the heterogeneous population which had low or no antigen content. The breast tumors that did grow in the nu/nu mice after 8 weeks of injection of the cocktail revealed by immunoperoxidase staining a 90% reduction in the antigen content as recognized by these MoAbs when compared with untreated tumors. These results attest to the effectiveness of unconjugated anti-human milk fat globule MoAbs to arrest human breast tumor growth in nu/nu mice, and they also suggest that to best arrest tumor growth the use of a mixture of MoAbs should be considered.

Animals↗

PubMed1984

Glycosyl transferases in mouse and human milk fat globule membranes.

Membranes isolated from mouse and human milk fat globules were found to contain the enzymes responsible for the synthesis of dolichol monophosphate mannose and dolichol monophosphate glucose as well as those involved in the transference of the glycosyl residues from the two dolichol derivatives to dolichol diphosphate oligosaccharides. The levels of most of the enzymes were comparable to those found in mouse mammary gland microsomes. The presence of enzymes involved in protein glycosylation via dolichol derivatives in the milk fat globule membrane provides evidence in favor of an outward flow of membrane components from the rough endoplasmic reticulum, where these enzymes are active in vivo, towards the cell surface.

Animals↗

PubMed1984

Variability in surface antigen expression of human breast epithelial cells cultured from normal breast, normal tissue peripheral to breast carcinomas, and breast carcinomas.

Single-cell heterogeneity and variability in expression of several surface antigens on human mammary epithelial cells in short-term culture were studied with immunofluorescence techniques, using polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies. The cultures, derived from normal breast, a fibroadenoma, a gynecomastia, normal breast tissue peripheral to breast carcinomas, and breast carcinomas and their metastases, were studied after one passage in vitro. The percentage of positive cells varied considerably from one tissue sample to another in all categories from normal to malignant, although there was an overall trend toward a decreasing percentage of positive cells of malignant tissues. The relative antigen content varied 3- to 8-fold among individual samples of cells from normal, peripheral, and carcinoma tissue, while the mean values in the three categories were similar. The single-cell variability in relative antigen content was considerable in all individual samples of normal, peripheral, and carcinoma tissues, as reflected in the high coefficients of variation. However, the coefficients of variation were significantly higher for cells from carcinoma and peripheral tissues [69 +/- 10% (S.E.) and 75 +/- 9%, respectively] than for cells from normal breast (48 +/- 5%). By analyzing in clonal colonies the appearance of quantitative variants in expression of a specific surface antigen, detected with a monoclonal antibody, the carcinoma cells were found to have a 10-fold higher rate of phenotypic variability (mean, 1.21 X 10(-2)/cell/generation) than did cells from normal breast (mean, 0.119 X 10(-2)) and one gynecomastia (0.045 X 10(-2)). Mammary epithelial cells from apparently "normal" tissue peripheral to a carcinoma had an intermediate rate of phenotypic variability (mean, 0.310 X 10(-2)) that was significantly higher than that of the normal tissue.

Adenofibroma↗

PubMed1983

Characterization of cell surface antigens of human mammary epithelial cells with monoclonal antibodies prepared against human milk fat globule.

Hybridomas have been prepared that secrete monoclonal antibodies against three different surface antigens of normal human mammary epithelial cells by fusion of mouse myeloma cells with spleen cells from mice and rats immunized with delipidated human milk fat globules. Using a novel method for molecular weight determination, the three different monoclonal antibodies, BLMRL-HMFG-Mc3, BLMRL-HMFG-McR2, and BLMRL-HMFG-Mc5, were found to identify molecules with apparent molecular weights of 46,000, 70,000, and 400,000 daltons, respectively. The latter is a mucin-like glycoprotein with a high sugar content and has not previously been described as a component of the human milk fat globule or of human mammary epithelial cell membranes. Single-cell quantitation of binding of monoclonal BLMRL-HMFG-Mc5 to three breast tumor cell lines using a Microscope Spectrum Analyzer and indirect immunofluorescence revealed a heterogeneous expression. Further, using a competitive radioimmunoassay, it was found that breast tumor cell lines differed by at least 10-fold in the 400,000-molecular-weight antigen content. None of the three antigens are detectable on several nonbreast cell lines, including normal breast fibroblasts.

Animals↗

PubMed1983

Comparison of rates of phenotypic variability in surface antigen expression in normal and cancerous human breast epithelial cells.

A method is described for measuring the rate of phenotypic variability in normal and neoplastic breast epithelial cells. Three groups of normal human mammary epithelial cells were studied, two derived from reduction mammoplasties and one derived from the normal breast tissue of a patient with fibroadenoma. The breast carcinoma cells were all cell lines, four (MCF-7, SKBR-3, MDA-MB-157, and T47D) derived from pleural effusions of patients with breast cancer, and one (BT-20) derived from a primary breast tumor. The heterogeneity and variability in expression of a cell surface glycoprotein with apparent molecular weight of 400,000 were studied at the single-cell level with immunoperoxidase techniques using a specific monoclonal antibody, BLMRL-HMFG-Mc5, to a nonpenetrating glycoprotein. The rate of appearance of quantitative variants in expression of this specific surface antigen (rate of phenotypic variability) was determined in clonal colonies and was found to be severalfold higher in all five breast carcinoma cell lines (mean, 2.23 X 10(-2)/cell/generation) than in the normal breast epithelial cells (mean, 0.36 X 10(-2)/cell/generation). In addition, a considerable quantitative variation in expression of this surface antigen was demonstrated among the cells of each population in both normal and neoplastic breast cells which spread over an 8- to 10-fold range. Furthermore, the quantitative distribution among single cells was not random, for the cells tended to cluster around values that fit a geometric series.

Antigens, Neoplasm↗

PubMed1982

Dolichol-bound oligosaccharides and the transfer of distal monosaccharides in the synthesis of glycoproteins by normal and tumor mammary epithelial cells.

The main dolichol diphosphate-bound oligosaccharides present in primary cultures of both normal and tumor mouse mammary epithelial cells had the same size, yielded the same pattern after acetolysis and paper chromatography, had the same number of mannose residues susceptible to alpha-mannosidase degradation, and were composed of the same monosaccharide residues. This is the first demonstration that normal and tumor mammary cells have dolichol diphosphate-bound oligosaccharides with very similar, if not identical, structures. These compounds are intermediates in the synthesis of asparagine-linked oligosaccharides. On the other hand, normal and tumor cells showed differences in the specific activities of the enzymes involved in the transfer of the distal monosaccharides from the sugar nucleotides to glycoproteins. Sialyl- and fucosyltransferases were elevated and galactosyl- and N-acetylglucosaminyltransferases were diminished in mammary tumor cells. The intact tumor cells showed an increased fucosylation of glycoproteins of the asparagine-linkage type.

Animals↗

PubMed1982

Circulating human mammary epithelial antigens in breast cancer.

Heterologous specific antisera against human mammary epithelial antigens (HME-Ags), which are present in the human milk fat globule membrane and breast epithelial cells, were used in a solid-phase radioimmunoassay to determine the presence of these antigens in the sera of patients with disseminated cancer of the breast and other organs. Breast cancer patients carry high levels of HME-Ags in their circulation, while patients with disseminated nonbreast cancer, as well as normal female controls, do not. A similar release of HME-Ags in the circulation was shown by us in a model system. To further corroborate these findings, a three-step procedure for the extraction and identification of HME-Ags from the sera was devised. In this analytical procedure, circulating HME-Ags are recovered on a solid phase carrying their corresponding antibody (anti-HME) and radioiodinated in situ. Later, the labeled HME-Ags are released from the solid phase and characterized by NaDodSO4 gel electrophoresis. With this procedure, HME-Ags were isolated from sera of breast cancer patients but not from sera of nonbreast cancer patients or of normal female controls. The extracted HME-Ags had molecular masses of 150,000, 70,000, and 46,000 daltons. To further support these findings, a monoclonal antibody, BLMRL-HMFG-Mc3, directed to the 46,000-dalton HME-Ag was also used to extract its corresponding antigen from sera. Breast cancer patient sera contained such antigen while the sera of the other patients and controls did not. This highly sensitive methodology offers a specific approach to breast cancer diagnosis as well as further insight into the nature of circulating antigens with a view to increasing our understanding of breast cancer biology.

Antigens, Neoplasm↗

PubMed1977

Response to prolactin and ovarian steroids of normal mammary epithelial cell cultures.

Mouse mammary epithelial cells in confluent primary monolayer cultures retain responsiveness to the specific hormones that induce mammary growth in vivo. Simultaneous stimulation by prolactin, progesterone and estrogen, in the presence of 5 percent fetal calf serum, is required to induce an increase in both thymidine uptake into DNA and in cell replication (as judged by mitotic indexes) over the hormone-free control. This increase in mitogenic response could not be elicited in either mouse fibroblasts or in mouse mammary tumor cells, the latter known to be hormone insensitive.

Animals↗