Immunoreactivity of monoclonal antibody BW835 represents a marker of progression and prognosis in early gastric cancer

The Thomsen-Friedenreich (TF) antigen is a well-known human pan-carcinoma a ntigen. It represents a carbohydrate core disaccharide (Gal beta1-3GalNAc) which is predominantly bound to mucin peptide cores. Its immunoreactivity d epends on changes in glycosylation which lead to a reduction in the carbohy drate chain length and the exposure of core carbohydrates. In the present s tudy, we investigated 208 gastric adenocarcinomas with respect to their imm unohistochemical reactivity applying two monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). MAb specifically detecting TF antigen (A78-G/A7) and MAb BW835 were included. T he latter reacts with a certain glycoform of the MUC1 peptide core, charact erized by core-type glycans like TF. A78-G/A7 epitopes were detected in 68. 8% and BW835 epitopes in 57.7% of the carcinomas. BW835 immunoreactivity co rrelated with the presence of lymph node metastases. Both A78-G/A7 and BW83 5 staining were significantly stronger in tubular/papillary cancer (WHO cla ssification) and intestinal-type cancer according to Lauren. In univariate survival analyses of all patients studied, BW835 immunoreactivity was a mar ker of an unfavorable prognosis (p < 0.05). The presence of A78-G/A7 and BW 835 epitopes exerted a negative effect on the subgroup of pTNM stage I carc inomas. These results indicate that TF and MUC1-TF immunoreactivity defines a 'high-risk' subgroup of stage I patients in gastric cancer. Copyright (C ) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel.