A new antigen on the epithelial membrane: its immunoperoxidase localisation in normal and neoplastic tissue.

Epithelial membrane antigen: Partial purification, assay and properties

“…The anti-EMA sera were raised by the methods previously published (Ceriani et al, 1977;Heyderman et al, 1979) The affinity-column for preparing anti-EMA antibodies was made by linking purified EMA to the amino groups of 1, 6-diaminohexane-Sepharose (AH-Sepharose 4B; Pharmacia Ltd.) using 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylamino-propyl) carbodiimide (Sigma Ltd.) and-following the instruction supplied by Pharmacia. The antibodies were eluted from the column using glycine-HCl, pH 2.3.…”

“…Using an antiserum raised against defatted human cream, Heyderman et al (1979) have identified a material which is localised on the luminal and surface membranes of most non-squamous tissues in humans. In normal tissues, this material, which they called epithelial membrane antigen (EMA), is not found on adjacent cell membranes but only on that part of the cell surface which is topographically part of the exterior surface of the body .…”

Evaluation of a rosetting method in detection of breast cancer cells

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Epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) (Heyderman et al, 1979) is a membrane component expressed by most epithelial cells, by all breast carcinomas and their metastases but not by the vast majority of normal bone marrow cells (Sloane et al, 1980 (Goding, 1976). Briefly a 1% solution of chromium chloride (CrCl3) in 0.9% sodium chloride (NaCl) was adjusted to pH 5 by the addition of 1 N sodium hydroxide twice-weekly for 3 weeks, then stored without further adjustment in a dark container.

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“…Epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) (Heyderman et al, 1979) is a membrane component expressed by most epithelial cells, by all breast carcinomas and their metastases but not by the vast majority of normal bone marrow cells (Sloane et al, 1980). It has been shown that immunocytochemical staining for EMA can detect very small numbers of breast cancer in bone marrow smears that appear normal by conventional haematological techniques (Dearnaley et al, 1981).…”

Increased detection of mammary carcinoma cells in marrow smears using antisera to epithelial membrane antigen

“…THE LOCALIZATION of a cell-surface component, which has been called epithelial membrane antigen (EMA), has been described in both normal and neoplastic tissue, using an antiserum raised against human milk-fat-globule membranes (Heyderman et al, 1979;Sloane & Ormerod, 1981). In formalin-fixed paraffinembedded sections, the antigen is confined to, but widely distributed in, epithelial tissues and tumours derived from them.…”