T-ANTIGENS IN PRIMARY NONINVASIVE AND SUPERFICIALLY INVASIVE HUMAN URINARY-BLADDER TUMORS - THE CORRELATION TO TUMOR RECURRENCE AND TUMOR PROGRESSION - A MINIREVIEW

As cellular carbohydrate structures are involved in multiple cellular functions, alterations in these structures have been studied in an eff ort to find markers and predictors of the clinical course of disease i n human cancers. Speciel interest has been given to recurrence and pro gression of cancer disease. At present no such marker or predictor exi sts for the prediction of recurrence and progression of initially noni nvasive (Ta) or superficially invasive (T-1) human urinary bladder tum ors. Over the years the T- (Thomsen-Friedenreich) antigen (the disacch aride Gal beta(1-3)GalNAc alpha(1-O)-R) has been investigated for its possible role as such a marker. An overview is given. It is concluded that there is a general, but not an individual correlation between T-a ntigen expression and recurrence or progression of initially non- or s uperficially invasive human bladder tumors.