The proposed research on pancreatic cancer involves the use of human pancreatic carcinoma in continuous culture as an experimental model with the following objectives in mind: 1. In our attempts to identify a tumor specific antigen, we have produced antiserum in rabbits against cultured pancreatic carcinoma cells and have demonstrated the presence of a common antigen in our cell line and in several pancreatic carcinomas obtained at autopsy. Further studies are in progress to further determine the specificity of this antigen and to explore its possible detection for the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in man. 2. We have purified a plasminogen activator secreted by these cultured cells and also found a membrane associated direct proteolytic activity which is being pursued. 3. The sensitivity of cultured pancreatic carcinoma ceels to L-asparaginase is being characterized further in terms of mechanism of action of this enzyme and the clinical application. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: Yunis, A. A., Arimura, G. K. and Russin, D. J.: Human Pancreatic Carcinoma (MIA PaCa-2) in Continuous Culture: Sensitivity to Asparaginase. Int. J. of Cancer 19:128, 1977. Wu, M.-C., Arimura, G.K. and Yunis, A. A.: Purification and Characterization of a Plasminogen Activator Secreted by Cultured Human Pancreatic Carcinoma Cells. Biochemistry 16:1908, 1977.