Background/Objectives: Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is a cell-surface glycoprotein serving as a drug target, diagnostic marker, and serum marker for cancer monitoring. However, prevalence data on CEA expression in cancer tissues vary considerably. This study was designed to determine CEA expression in normal and neoplastic tissues. Methods: A tissue microarray containing 13,725 samples from 120 different tumor types, as well as 76 different normal tissue types, was analyzed by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Results: CEA was detectable in 65 (54.2%) of 120 tumor categories, including 49 (40.8%) tumor types with at least one strongly positive case. CEA positivity was most common in colorectal adenomas (100%) and carcinomas (98.7%), other gastrointestinal adenocarcinomas (61.1–80.3%), medullary carcinomas of the thyroid (96.3%), pulmonary adenocarcinoma (73.7%), mucinous carcinomas of the ovary (79.8%) and the breast (43.2%), small-cell carcinomas of the lung (64.3%), and urinary bladder (38.9%). CEA overexpression was linked to high tumor grade and invasive growth (p< 0.0001 each) in urinary bladder cancer, and estrogen and HER2 receptor positivity (p≤ 0.0158) in invasive breast cancer of no special type. In colorectal adenocarcinomas, reduced CEA expression was associated with mismatch repair deficiency (p< 0.0001). Conclusions: The comprehensive list of CEA-positive human tumor types demonstrates that CEA is expressed in a broad range of epithelial neoplasms, many of which might benefit from CEA serum monitoring and anti-CEA therapies.
背景/目的：癌胚抗原（CEA）是一种细胞表面糖蛋白，可作为药物靶点、诊断标志物及癌症监测的血清标志物。然而，关于癌组织中CEA表达的流行率数据存在显著差异。本研究旨在确定正常组织与肿瘤组织中CEA的表达情况。方法：采用免疫组织化学技术对包含120种不同肿瘤类型及76种不同正常组织类型的13,725例样本组成的组织芯片进行分析。结果：在120种肿瘤类别中，有65种（54.2%）可检测到CEA表达，其中49种（40.8%）肿瘤类型至少存在一例强阳性病例。CEA阳性最常见于结直肠腺瘤（100%）和癌（98.7%）、其他胃肠道腺癌（61.1–80.3%）、甲状腺髓样癌（96.3%）、肺腺癌（73.7%）、卵巢黏液癌（79.8%）和乳腺黏液癌（43.2%）、肺小细胞癌（64.3%）以及膀胱癌（38.9%）。在膀胱癌中，CEA过表达与高肿瘤分级和浸润性生长相关（p值均<0.0001）；在非特殊类型浸润性乳腺癌中，CEA过表达与雌激素受体及HER2受体阳性相关（p≤0.0158）。在结直肠腺癌中，CEA表达降低与错配修复缺陷相关（p<0.0001）。结论：CEA阳性人类肿瘤类型的全面列表表明，CEA在广泛的上皮性肿瘤中均有表达，其中许多肿瘤可能受益于CEA血清监测及抗CEA治疗。
Carcinoembryonic Antigen Expression in Human Tumors: A Tissue Microarray Study on 13,725 Tumors
肿瘤(癌症)患者之家