Isolation of ferritin from human mammary and pancreatic carcinomas by means of antibody immunoadsorbents

Serum ferritin concentration in early breast cancer

“…The suggestion by Marcus and Zinberg (1974) that breast cancer tissue might produce its own characteristic ferritin, together with their initial report (Marcus and Zinberg, 1975a) of increased serum ferritin concentrations in patients with the disease, stimulated the present study. We have estimated circulating ferritin concentration in 229 women presenting with early breast cancer and compared the data with that from 250 normal women.…”

“…Ferritin has been identified in Hodgkin's tumours (Bieber and Bieber, 1973;Eshhar, Order and Katz, 1974) and in breast tumour (Marcus and Zinberg, 1974) but this is not altogether surprising, as the capacity to synthesize this protein has been found in every mammalian tissue studied (Harrison et al, 1974). Jones et al (1973) pointed out that neoplasia is commonly associated with an abnormality of iron metabolism which manifests itself by a low serum iron concentration, an increase in RE iron and the anaemia of chronic disease (Cartwright and Lee, 1971).…”

“…While Drysdale and Singer (1974) and Marcus and Zinberg (1974) have suggested that tumour cells may produce an acidic " carcinofoetal " isoferritin characteristic of the malignant state, this concept appears to be an over-simplification. There is considerable heterogeneity of the isoferritin pattern found in tumours.…”

“…Alpert, Coston and Drysdale (1973) found human hepatoma tissue to contain an acidic ferritin also present in early foetal liver but not in mature liver. Marcus and Zinberg (1974) showed that ferritin isolated from breast and pancreatic tumour tissue contained acidic isoferritins not found in adult liver, while Drysdale and Singer (1974) demonstrated acidic isoferritins in HeLa cells and in placenta. Both groups of workers suggested the term " carcinofetal " isofoerritin and discussed the possibility of developing serological tests for cancer based on the characteristics of this protein.…”

Isoferritins in acute leukaemia

“…The more acidic isoferritins are found in heart and kidney (Powell et al, 1975a), in placenta (Drysdale and Singer, 1974) and foetal tissues (Alpert, Coston and Drysdale, 1973), in hepatoma (Alpert et al, 1973), in carcinoma of the breast and pancreas (Marcus and Zinberg, 1974) and in HeLa cells (Drysdale and Singer, 1974). Such acidic isoferritins, when appearing in tissues which do not normally contain them, such as liver, have been called " carcinofoetal " ferritin (Alpert et al, 1973).…”