PURIFICATION OF A HUMAN PROSTATE SPECIFIC ANTIGEN¹

Rabbit antiserum raised against the crude extract of normal human prostatic tissue contained antibodies to a prostatic tissue-specific antigen as shown by immunoprecipitation techniques. Using this antiserum a prostate antigen was detected in normal, benign hypertrophic, and malignant prostatic tissues, but not in other human tissues. The prostate antigen was purified to homogeneity from prostatic tissues and showed a single protein band on analytical polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing. This report thus presents the first demonstration of the purification of a prostate-specific antigen that does not represent prostatic acid phosphatase.

Department of Diagnostic Immunology Research and Biochemistry, Roswell Park Memorial Institute, Buffalo, New York (Reprinted with permission from Invest. Urol, 17: 159–163, 1979)