ASSOCIATION OF GLYCOCONJUGA.TES EXPRESSION APjO) CUNICAL SIGNIFICANCE IN HUMAN GASTRIC CANCER

细胞表面糖基化在肿瘤发生过程中发生显著变化，被认为与恶性潜能和癌症的发展有关。因此，用凝集素和抗肿瘤相关碳水化合物抗原的抗体检测肿瘤组织中的碳水化合物可能有助于评估肿瘤的转移潜力和侵袭性行为。本研究利用凝集素对人胃癌组织进行组织化学和生化分析，探讨糖缀合物唾液化与肿瘤临床病理特征的关系。我们在这里描述了Maackia amurensis白细胞凝集素（MAL）阳性糖缀合物仅出现在胃肿瘤组织中。另一方面，在非癌区未检测到染色。在淋巴结转移、淋巴管浸润、静脉浸润及肿瘤晚期患者中，mal阳性染色的高表达频率显著增加。此外，预后分析显示，mal阳性糖缀合物的高水平表达与浸润深度和静脉浸润一起是缩短生存期的独立因素。综上所述，本研究结果表明MAL阳性糖缀合物出现在胃肿瘤组织中，表明MAL检测到的异常糖基化与胃癌的不良行为密切相关。因此，MAL将成为判断胃癌患者预后的有效工具。

Cell surface glycosylation is dramatically changed during oncogenesis, and is considered to correlate with the malignant potential and development of cancer. Therefore, detection of carbohydrates of tumor tissues with lectins and antibodies against tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens may help to evaluate the metastatic potential and aggressive tumor behavior.In this study, we performed histochemical and biochemical analysis of human gastric cancer tissues using lectins to investigate relationship between sialylation of glycoconjugates and clinicopathological characteristics of the tumor. We describe here that Maackia amurensis leukoagglutinin (MAL)-positive glycoconjugates only appear in gastric tumor tissues. On the other hand, no staining was detected in the non-cancerous region. And the high level expression of MAL-positive staining was significantly frequent in cases of lymph node metastasis, lymphatic vessel invasion, and venous invasion, as well as in cases of advanced tumors. Furthermore, prognosis analysis showed that the high level expression of MAL-positive glycoconjugates is an independent factor in a shorter survival together with the depth of invasion and the venous invasion.In conclusion, the present results indicate that MAL-positive glycoconjugates appear in gastric tumor tissu es and suggest that the abnormal glycosylation detected using MAL closely related to unfavorable behavior of gastric cancer. Therefore, MAL would be an effective tool used to determine the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer.