A critical investigation of the Oxford tumour marker Cal in the histological diagnosis of breast cancer and pre-cancer

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Abstract
Ca1 antibody reacted focally with all of the 20 [human] cancers examined, but also with 12 out of 13 fibroadenomata and with each of 20 normal breasts. There are severe limitations to the use of Ca1 antibody for defining benign vs. malignant processes. Ca1 is most specific in terms of the cytoplasmic staining of tumors vs. normal tissues. If a hierarchy of maximal staining is drawn up, cancers and fibroadenomata appear at the top, with normal tissue found in various types of breast in the middle, and non-neoplastic lesion such as epitheliosis, hyperplasia and apocrine change at the bottom of the hierarchy. There are at least 15 non-cancerous tissues which show reactivity to Ca1. The designation Ca is inappropriate.