The murine monoclonal antibody OC 125 reacts with an antigen (CA 125) common to most nonmucinous epithelial ovarian carcinomas. An assay has been developed to detect CA 125 in serum. By this assay, only 1 per cent of 888 apparently healthy persons and 6 per cent of 143 patients with nonmalignant disease had serum CA 125 levels above 35 U per milliliter. In contrast, 83 of 101 patients (82 per cent) with surgically demonstrated ovarian carcinoma had elevated levels of antigen. In 38 patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma monitored on 2 to 18 occasions during 2 to 60 months, antigen levels ranged from less than 1 to more than 8000 U per milliliter. Rising or falling levels of CA 125 correlated with progression or regression of disease in 42 of 45 instances (93 per cent). Determination of CA 125 levels may aid in monitoring the response to treatment in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer.

The cytoskeletal proteins of cultured normal human mesothelial cells were found to consist of six major components, including actin, vimentin, the 40 kd keratin and the 44, 52 and 55 kd proteins, plus a minor 46 kd protein. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, peptide mapping and immunoprecipitation tests showed that the 40–55 kd mesothelial proteins are a family of keratins distinct in size, charge or peptide map from the “epidermal keratins” synthesized by cultured keratinocytes. Unique combinations of keratins from the epidermal and mesothelial keratin families were found to be synthesized by cultured bladder, esophageal, conjunctival, mammary, exocervical and ovarian surface epithelial cells. Mesothelial cells were the only epithelial cell type that synthesized vimentin at more than trace levels. We have also found that many carcinoma cell lines express keratins different from those of their cell type of origin.

Seventeen patients with advanced malignancies received escalating doses of chemotherapy with adriamycin and cyclophosphamide. Sixty-five per cent of the courses produced circulating granulocyte counts of 500 cells/mm3 or less. Febrile episodes occurred in only 15% of courses and were seen only with doses of chemotherapy that produced granulocyte nadirs of less than 200 cells/mm3. There were no episodes of septicaemia. Ten of the 17 patients received an intensive dose followed by reinfusion of cryopreserved, autologous bone marrow. In 5 of these patients, recovery to 500 granulocytes/mm3 was more rapid following the intensive, marrow-supported course by comparison with the prior, less intensive, unsupported course. We conclude that higher doses of adriamycin and cyclophosphamide than are conventionally used can be given without serious toxicity. Autologous bone marrow reinfusion may have a role in reducing the period of drug-induced granulocytopenia, but effective storage and recovery of human bone marrow remains a major problem.

Despite many dramatic and rapid advances in the treatment of cancer during the last 20 years, the management of ovarian cancer remains unsatisfactory. Although surgical and radiotherapeutic technics have improved, the survival figures for ovarian cancer have not. The five-year survival rate has improved only from 29 per cent (1950–1959) to 32 per cent (1965–1969).1 At present, approximately 11,000 deaths occur from this disease in the United States each year, with a further 3000 deaths per annum in the United Kingdom.2 , 3 This figure represents a death rate greater than that for neoplasms of the cervix and corpus uteri combined. Since . . .