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，并被认为与癌症的恶性潜能和发展有关。因此，用凝集素和抗肿瘤相关糖类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能和侵袭性。在本研究中，我们利用凝集素对人胃癌组织进行了组织化学和生化分析，以探讨糖结合物唾液酸化与肿瘤临床病理特征的关系。我们在这里描述了山毛猴白细胞凝集素(MAL)阳性的糖偶联物只出现在胃肿瘤组织中。而在非癌区则未见染色。MAL阳性表达在淋巴结转移、淋巴管侵犯、静脉侵犯以及晚期肿瘤中明显增多。此外，预后分析显示MAL阳性糖偶联物的高表达与胃癌的侵袭深度和静脉侵犯有关，是影响患者生存期的独立因素。结论：MAL阳性糖结合物在胃癌组织中存在，提示MAL阳性糖基化异常与胃癌的不良行为密切相关。因此，MAL可作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.