Y. Kakeji et al., CORRELATION BETWEEN SIALYL TN ANTIGEN AND LYMPHATIC METASTASIS IN PATIENTS WITH BORRMANN TYPE-IV GASTRIC-CARCINOMA, British Journal of Cancer, 71(1), 1995, pp. 191-195
The expression of sialyl Tn (STn) antigen in 180 patients with Borrman
n type IV gastric carcinomas was examined immunohistochemically. The r
ate of positive STn staining was 32% (57/180) for the primary tumours,
and this positive staining correlated well with tumour extension, lym
ph node metastasis (P<0.05) and peritoneal dissemination (P<0.01). One
-third (5/15) of patients with positive STn-staining cancer cells had
a high level of serum STn. Lesions with positive STn staining were rel
ated to a lower survival rate for the patients (P<0.05). Proliferative
activity of the tumour, as measured by proliferating nuclear antigen
(PCNA) labelling percentage and argyrophilic nucleolar organiser regio
n (AgNOR) count, was significantly higher (41.5+/-13.0%, 3.78+/-0.98)
in the STn-positive group than in the STn-negative group (34.2+/-13.2%
, 3.48+/-0.85) (P<0.01, P<0.05 respectively). Estimating STn antigen m
ay be useful for predicting the likelihood of lymph node metastasis or
peritoneal dissemination and the clinical prognosis for patients with
Borrmann type IV gastric carcinoma.