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

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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.