A Fetal Antigen Associated with Human Neoplasia

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Abstract
The serum of eight of 1518 patients with cancer contained precipitating antibody defining a new antigen associated with human neoplasia. The antigen has been named γ-fetoprotein (γFP) because of its electrophoretic mobility and its occurrence in the serum and some tissues of the normal fetus. γFP antigen was present in 75 per cent (169 of 225) of a wide variety of benign and malignant human tumors, the serum of 11 per cent (23 of 210) of patients with cancer and two of 101 specimens of non-neoplastic diseased tissue (inflammatory intestinal lesions from two elderly patients). It was not present in any normal human tissue or in adult human serum.