EXPRESSION OF SIALYL-TN IN BREAST-CANCER - CORRELATION WITH PROGNOSTIC PARAMETERS

To investigate the expression of a simple mucin-type carbohydrate anti gen (Sialyl-Tn/STn) and its putative relationship with established or potentially useful clinico-pathologic prognostic parameters in breast cancer, we studied forty-six cases of invasive breast carcinoma in for malin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections. STn antigen was detect ed by the HB-STn antibody using an avidin-biotin-peroxidase method. Th e parameters studied were tumour size, histologic grade, nodal status, proliferative index (with MIB-1), ER expression, ploidy, c-erbB-2 and p53 expression. STn expression was observed in 18 cases (39%) of brea st cancer The expression of STn was associated with axillary node meta stasis, ER negativity and c-erbB-2 expression. A tendency towards an a ssociation between STn immunoreactivity and high histologic grade was also found. No correlation was observed between STn immunoreactivity a nd age, tumour size, proliferative index, ploidy and p53 expression. W e conclude that the detection of STn immunoreactivity may be useful fo r predicting the likelihood of lymph node metastasis and that the outc ome of patients with breast cancer should be further investigated in o rder to find whether or not the data of the present study are confirme d in larger series.