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The immunoperoxidase method was used to determine whether carcinoembryonic antigen, beta subunit of HCC placental lactogen, pregnancy-associated alpha-2 glycoprotein, and pregnancy-specific beta-1 glycoprotein could be found in inclusion cysts of the ovary. These tumor markers are found in the serum of patients with common epithelial carcinomas of the ovary and inclusion cysts are considered to be the origin of these tumors. Placental lactogen was found in 56 of 118 inclusion cysts, beta subunit of HCG in four of 141 cysts, alpha-2 glycoprotein in five of 141, and beta-1 glycoprotein in two of 118. It was concluded that primitive cells in inclusion cysts elaborate the same tumor markers found in serous cystadenoma and cystadenocarcinoma of the ovary. This observation, although not proving origin of tumor from the inclusion cyst, demonstrates a significant characteristic shared in common by all three. Cancer 49722-726, 1982. T HAS BEEN NOTED that malignancies of the ovary are able to synthesize and secrete ectopic proteins that These ma-are specific to the fetus and lignancies included common epithelial carcinomas of the ovary. Khoo and MacKay' reported that significantly raised values of CEA were found in the serum of 77% of patients with cystadenocarcinoma. Stone et d. I 4 reported that about one-half of beta subunit HCG determinations were positive in the sera of 26 patients with serous, mucinous, and endometrioid carcinoma. Similar studies by Crowther et d4 have shown the presence of pregnancy-associated alpha-2 glycoprotein, pregnancy-specific beta-1 glycoprotein, and placental lactogen in the blood of patients with mucinous, serous, endometrioid, and undifferentiated carcinomas. Because these tumors are believed to originate in inclusion cysts in the cortex of the ovary," it seemed worthwhile to investigate, through the use of the im-munoperoxidase method, whether any of the above ec-topic proteins, widely regarded as tumor markers, could be found in the cytoplasm of cells making up the cysts.

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