Novel colorectal adenocarcinoma-associated 40- and 47-kDa protein antigens recognized by anti-60-kda heat shock protein antibody

Expression of 40- and 47-kDa proteins recognized by anti-60-kDa heat shock protein antibody was investigated in colorectal adenocarcinoma tissue. In all cases of colorectal adenocarcinoma tissue (n = 9), 40- and 47-kDa proteins were detected by immunoblot analysis. However, expression of these two proteins was extremely low or was not expressed in control tissue. There was no correlation between the quantity of these two bands and histologic type or the location of the tumors. Our results first demonstrate the accumulation of structurally altered 60-kDa heat shock protein-associated antigens in carcinoma tissue and suggest that these two proteins could be a possible candidate for tumor-specific 60-kDa heat shock protein-related protein antigens.