Expression of Thomsen-Friedenreich antigen as a marker of poor prognosis in pulmonary adenocarcinoma

The prognostic significance of Thomsen-Friendenreich antigen (T antigen) ex pression was investigated in 126 patients with pulmonary adenocarcinoma by immunohistochemical staining of tumor specimens with a monoclonal antibody specific for T antigen. T antigen immunoreactivity was detected in tumor ti ssue from 60 (48%) patients. T antigen expression did not correlate with ge nder, tumor size, presence of lymph node or distant metastasis, stage of di sease, or degree of tumor cell differentiation. However, the presence of T antigen immunoreactivity correlated significantly with overall survival. Th e presence of T antigen immunoreactivity in tumor cells is a useful marker of prognosis in patients with pulmonary adenocarcinoma.