Expression of sialosyl‐Tn in intestinal type cancer cells of human gastric cancers

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A sample of 219 primary stomach cancers, 143 advanced cancers and 76 early cancers were examined for mucin histochemical staining (the paradoxical concanavalin A method, the galactose oxidase‐Schiff [GOS] reaction, and the sialidase‐GOS reaction) and immunohistochemical reactivity (pepsinogen [Pg] I, Pg II, SH‐9 and TKH‐2). Gastric cancer cells were clearly classified according to mucin histochemistry into a gastric type, including mucus neck cell, pyloric gland cell and surface mucus cell types, and an intestinal type, including goblet‐cell, and intestinal absorptive cell types. TKH‐2 monoclonal antibody, which recognizes the mucin‐associated sialosyl‐Tn antigen, reacted with the mucin of goblet cells in both the normal small intestine and in the intestinal metaplasia of the stomach. Sixty‐five of 106 (61%) differentiated adenocarcinomas and 76 of 113 (67%) undifferentiated adenocarcinomas had over 10% of their cancer cells positive for TKH‐2. The TKH‐2‐positive cancers were primarily classified as a goblet‐cell type by mucin‐histochemical staining and the other immunohistochemical staining methods. Therefore, it is concluded that sialosyl‐Tn is an excellent marker of small intestinal mucins and is indicative of a small intestinal type of differentiation in two‐thirds of gastric cancers.

This publication has 18 references indexed in Scilit: