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Biomedical subjects

M C Wang

Publications and source records attributed to M C Wang.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Prognostic importance of prostate-specific antigen for monitoring patients with stages B2 to D1 prostate cancer.

To evaluate the prognostic value of prostate-specific antigen (PA) for detection of tumor growth after definitive therapy, 602 sera from 70 patients with stages B2 to D1 prostate cancer (26 of whom recurred) were analyzed in a blind study. Using Cox's proportional-hazards model, a highly significant association was found between serially measured PA and disease-free survival time (p = 0.0002). A positive predictive value of 100% was found for some markedly elevated PA levels and confirmed recurrence of disease. In fact, this study suggested that once a PA level of 88 ng/ml was reached, there was an average time of less than 2 months before a recurrence was clinically confirmed. Tumor growth in patients who recurred was indicated by a PA elevation before recurrence in 92% (24 of 26) as opposed to 20% (9 of 44) in disease-free patients. Additionally, in these 24 of 26 patients, levels of PA were elevated 12 months (mean lead time) before a confirmed disease recurrence. In patients who were still disease free, serial PA appeared to increase concurrently with putative tumor growth as shown by the initial surgical stage. Generally, the greater the PA level the more advanced was the stage of disease (B2 to D1). These data suggest that PA may be a useful adjuvant marker for monitoring tumor growth in patients with regionally confined prostate cancer.

Antigens, Neoplasm↗

The proteolytic activity of human prostate-specific antigen.

Human prostate-specific antigen has been found to exhibit a mild activity of protease at neutral pH. This finding is based on two observations: a proteolytic activity was always associated with the antigen fractions during purification, and the proteolytic activity and the antigen were precipitated with specific antibody to the antigen. In comparison with physico-chemical and catalytic properties of known proteases, human prostate-specific antigen is a distinct neutral protease.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Immunologic markers and the diagnosis of prostatic cancer.

The authors review recent developments in the immunodiagnosis of prostatic cancer. Monoclonal antibodies to prostatic acid phosphatase, prostate-specific antigen, and several human prostate and prostate-cancer-related components are available. Prostatic acid phosphatase and prostatic antigen assays are still the only immunologic tools with clinical applications.

Acid Phosphatase↗

Monoclonal antibody (F5) to human prostate antigen.

Hybridoma culture F5 has been developed which secretes monoclonal antibody (McAb) directed to an epitope of a prostatic glycoprotein of Mr 34 kD (Prostate Antigen, PA). Tissue levels of PA have been evaluated using a competitive-binding enzyme-immunoassay based upon the inhibition of McAb binding activity to purified antigen. Results indicated the specific occurrence of high antigen concentrations in extracts prepared from prostatic tissues. The antigenicity of epitope F5 is resistant to tissue fixation and embedding protocols, and has been demonstrated upon immunoperoxidase staining procedures. Immunoperoxidase data strongly indicate that McAb F5 possesses a singular specificity towards prostatic epithelial cells. Other tissues, whether normal or cancerous, fail to express this determinant. Specimens examined included epithelial and nonepithelial tissues along with a panel of carcinomas and sarcomas. The antibody was able to detect tumor cells at extra-prostatic sites and represents a powerful probe for the detection and differential diagnosis of metastatic cancer of the prostate.

Animals↗

Phytoalexin Elicitor Activity of Carbohydrates from Phytophthora megasperma f.sp. glycinea and Other Sources.

Three unique classes of carbohydrates were isolated from the hyphal cell walls of Phytophthora megasperma f.sp. glycinea (Pmg) and compared with other substances for their activity as elicitors of the phytoalexin glyceollin in soybean tissues. Glucomannans extracted from cell walls with soybean beta-1,3-endoglucanase were purified and proved to be the most active elicitors yet reported. They were approximately 10 times more active in soybean cotyledons than the heterogeneous beta-glucan elicitor fraction extracted from Pmg walls. In addition, the glucomannan fraction gave race-specific elicitor activity in soybean hypocotyls. Pronase was found to be a suitable reagent for the mild extraction of glycopeptides from Pmg cell walls. All of the carbohydrates isolated from Pmg cell walls possessed significant elicitor activity, but other glucans, a glucomannan and mannan from other sources, were much less active. Chitin and chitosan, reported to function as elicitors in other plants, had low activity in soybean cotyledons. Arachidonic acid was inactive, despite its previously observed elicitor activity in potato tubers. The results indicated that, for Pmg, the carbohydrate elicitor most probably involved in the initiation of phytoalexinmediated defense during fungus infection of soybean plants is the glucomannan fraction liberated by endoglucanase.

Journal Article↗

A receptor on soybean membranes for a fungal elicitor of phytoalexin accumulation.

Soybean membrane preparations specifically bound [(14)C]mycolaminaran, a branched beta-1,3-glucan produced by Phytophthora sp. which elicits production of the phytoalexin glyceollin in soybean tissues. A Scatchard plot of the binding data disclosed the presence of a single affinity class of binding sites with a K(d) value of 11.5 micromolar for the glucan. To assess the physiologic importance of mycolaminaran binding in phytoalexin elicitation, several derivatives of mycolaminaran were prepared. Reduced mycolaminaran had slightly greater elicitor activity and binding affinity than the native substance, while periodinated mycolaminaran was virtually devoid of either elicitor activity orbinding capability. Phosphorylated mycolaminaran, on the other hand, gave values for both elicitor activity and membrane binding which were intermediate between the native and periodinated preparations. No other tested carbohydrates competed with the binding of [(14)C]mycolaminaran. Soybean membrane preparations contained beta-1,3-endoglucanase activity that degraded mycolaminaran and reduced both its efficiency as a phytoalexin elicitor and its membrane binding at temperatures above 0 degrees C. Once [(14)C]mycolaminaran bound to membranes, however, it was not appreciably susceptible to glucanase attack and could not be displaced with excess unlabeled ligand. Taken collectively, the observations suggest that the membrane binding sites are mycolaminaran-specific receptors which are physiologically involved in the initiation of phytoalexin production in soybean cotyledons. Because the binding of mycolaminaran to membranes was abolished by heat and proteolytic enzymes, the receptor is probably a protein(s) or glycoprotein(s).

Journal Article↗

Circulating antibody to prostate antigen in patients with prostatic cancer.

A reverse enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) modified from a prostate antigen (PA) assay previously reported has been developed to measure circulating PA-binding globulin (PABG). Serum specimens taken from normal males, normal females, male patients with nonprostatic cancers, patients with benign prostatic hypertrophy, and patients with various stages of prostate cancer were analyzed for PABG. Results revealed that only patients with an advanced stage of prostatic cancer exhibited an elevated level of PABG. PABG was then isolated from prostatic cancer patients' serum by PA affinity chromatography. Upon immunodiffusion and immunoelectrophoresis, this PABG preparation reacted with purified PA, anti-PA xenoantibodies and anti-human IgG. By the immunoperoxidase technique, PABG stained positively in prostatic ductal epithelial cells and negatively in all other tissues examined. An additional PABG preparation, which reacted with anti-PA and anti-human IgG and not with purified PA, was also isolated by an anti-PA affinity chromatography. These PABG preparations were separately subjected to high-performance liquid chromatography for further purification. Three major protein peaks at Mr of greater than 240K, 150K, and 34K were obtained. These results demonstrated that circulating IgG antibody reactive with PA was present in patients with metastatic cancer of the prostate, and this in part was in complexed form with PA and was specifically reactive with ductal epithelial elements of the prostate.

Animals↗

A simplified purification procedure for human prostate antigen.

Methods for purifying the human prostate specific antigen are described. The antigen was isolated from human prostate and seminal plasma. Purified antigen (ca. 1 mg/ml) from seminal plasma was immunologically identical and biochemically similar to that of prostatic tissue.

Antigens↗

Multiple marker evaluation in human prostate cancer with the use of tissue-specific antigens.

Serum prostate-specific antigen and prostatic acid phosphatase were simultaneously evaluated in 22 healthy males, 29 patients with benign prostatic hypertrophy, and 192 patients with prostate cancers at various stages as well as in 30 patients with cancers other than prostate cancer. Both markers were quantitated by specific sandwich-type, enzyme-linked, immunosorbent assays with the use of specific antiserum reagents. Serum assays revealed a discordance between these two markers; thus expressions of these two biochemically and immunologically distinct prostate-specific proteins may reflect different aspects in the biology of prostate cancer. A combination test with the use of 7.5 ng of prostate antigen and 15.5 ng of prostatic acid phosphatase/ml of serum, respectively, as cutoff values resulted in a positive detection rate of 58% for prostate cancers of stages A (7/12) and B (21/36) each, 68% for prostate cancer of stage C (19/28), 92% for prostate cancer of stage D (106/116), and only 10% for benign prostatic hypertrophy (3/29). None of 52 other cancers or healthy controls was registered as positive. This study demonstrates that a multiple marker test of tissue-specific antigens can be of an additive value in the immunodiagnosis of cancer and may be a logical and effective approach at this time, in light of the unavailability of human tumor-specific markers.

Acid Phosphatase↗

Monoclonal antibodies to a human prostate antigen.

Three monoclonal antibodies reactive with a purified extractable Mr 34,000 prostate antigen (PA) have been prepared by fusing splenocytes of BALB/c mice preimmunized with purified PA with the NS1 mouse myeloma cell line. The three antibodies were all of the IgG-1 subclass. The antibodies defined two noncross-blocking unique determinants on PA; each present as one site per molecule. IF3 defined one antigenic site and 2G7 and 1C5 defined another antigenic determinant. All of the antibodies reacted with PA in a solid-phase radioimmunoassay and immunoprecipitated 125I-labeled PA. Absorption and sandwich radioimmunoassays showed PA in prostate tissues but not in tonsil, liver, or kidney. Immunoperoxidase staining of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded sections of benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostatic carcinoma revealed strong prostate epithelial reactivity. None of the antibodies showed reactivity with prostate membrane preparations. A sandwich radioimmunoassay used 2G7 as a plate coat. 125I-labeled 1F3 was used to detect 5 ng PA per ml in sera of patients with prostate cancer. These results confirm previous observations regarding the specificity of PA and shed new evidence for its intracellular localization.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗

Prostatic-specific antigen: an immunohistologic marker for prostatic neoplasms.

Antiserum to a human prostate-specific antigen was raised in a rabbit and utilized by immunoperoxidase staining to evaluate its potential value as a diagnostic histologic marker for tumors of prostatic origin. All primary and metastatic prostatic malignancies reacted positively, whereas nonprostatic neoplasms did not stain with this procedure. This is the first immunohistochemical marker for prostate gland epithelium which does not represent prostatic acid phosphatase.

Adenocarcinoma↗

Prostate antigen: a new potential marker for prostatic cancer.

A prostate-specific antigen, distinct from acid phosphatase, was identified by immunologic procedures in prostate tissues (normal, benign hypertrophic, and cancerous) and seminal plasma, as well as in sera of patients with prostatic cancer and of nude mice bearing human prostatic tumor. This antigen was shown by immunoperoxidase staining to be confined to epithelial cells comprising the prostatic ductal elements. Prostate antigen was purified from prostatic tissue and seminal plasma, and it was shown to have a molecular weight of 33,000-34,000 with no subunit component. The isoelectric point of purified antigen was around 6.9, though several unpurified isomers with different isoelectric points also were observed. Serum-borne prostate antigen showed a molecular weight of 90,000-100,000 but it exhibited a molecular weight of 36,000 in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. A sandwich-type, peroxidase-linked immunosorbent assay capable of detecting 0.1 ng of the antigen per milliliter of blood was developed. With this technique, serum level of the antigen was found to increase in patients with prostatic cancer as compared with normal males. The prostate-specific antigen can be a useful marker for detection of prostatic cancer.

Antigens↗