The time of appearance and distribution of sulphoglycoprotein antigens in the human foetal alimentary canal

Abstract

There have been but few investigations on mucosubstances, i.e. the glycoproteins of the alimentary canal, during foetal development. Blood group specificity, apparently due to glycoproteins, has been detected in the mucosa of the foetal alimentary canal with the aid of immunofluorescence techniques (Szulman, 1960), and the presence of sulphomucins has been demonstrated histochemically in the gastric surface epithelium of a 3-month-old foetus (Stemmermann, 1967). These sporadic observations have not revealed the stage at which the synthesis of mucosubstances starts. Likewise, some other aspects, such as the nature and distribution of these compounds in the foetal alimentary canal, await investigation.Three kinds of specific rabbit antisera have been prepared against the sulphoglycoproteins of the human alimentary canal in adults, namely, normal superficial, intestinal, and cancer antisera (Hakkinen, 1966;1967). The immunohistochemical distribution of compounds reacting with these antisera in the alimentary canal in normal and pathological conditions has been described in previous reports (Hakkinen et al., 1968b); in the present study the same antisera and techniques have been applied to the alimentary canal of human foetuses of various ages.

Isolation of a sulfated glycopeptidic antigen from human gastric tumors: Its localization in normal and cancerous gastrointestinal tissues

“…The lack of reactivity of our antisera with normal gastric mucosa fits well with other authors' results showing the absence of sulfated glycoproteins in this tissue (Lev, 1966;AndrC and Descos, 1975;Hough and Jones, 1972;Lambert et al, 1971). Furthermore, only goblet cells were stained by our antisera.…”

Studies of carcino‐fetal proteins. III. Development of a radioimmunoassay for α‐fetoprotein. Demonstration of α‐fetoprotein in serum of healthy human adults

“…Abelev et al (1963) first showed this association in mouse hepatomas. In addition to a-FP in primary hepatocellular cancer, fetal components are seen in cancer of the colon (Gold and Freedman, 1965), various tumors synthesizing the placental isoenzyme of alkaline phosphatase, the Regan isoenzyme (Fishman et al, 1968) and gastric cancer (Hakkinen et al, 1968). The surfaces of tumor cells and embryonal cells also show similarities in tissue culture systems (Moscona, 1971).…”

“…Similar results have been obtained with the carcinoembryonal antigen of Gold and Freedman (1965) by Martin and Martin (1970), who found small amounts of this antigen in normal colon. The fetal sulphoglycoprotein antigen related to gastric cancer (Hakkinen et al, 1968), is not entirely confined to cancerous gastric epithelium (Hakkinen and Viikari, 1969). These observations make it unnecessary to postulate dedifferentiation as the cause of the appearance of fetal proteins in cancer, and seem to favor the alternative that tumors arise from relatively undifferentiated stem cells (Pierce, 1970).…”

A Mucoprotein with Colon‐Specific Determinants

“…Rabin (1976) has demonstrated antigens specific for discrete segments of the intestinal tract in germfree rats. An intestinal antigen was described by Hakkinen et al (1968) as an acid mucosubstance derived from goblet cells of the stomach, small intestine and colon. This antigen appears t o be similar t o that de-scribed by Nairn.…”