Background: The expressions of Thomsen-Friedenreich antigen (T-Ag) and Tn antigen (Tn-Ag), precursors of MN blood group antigens, were examined in the tissues of squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix from 111 patients to determine their clinicopathologic significance with regard to the biologic behaviors of cancer cells and the clinical course of the patients.
Methods: T-Ag and Tn-Ag were measured by the avidin-biotin-peroxidase (ABC) method with peanut (Arachis hypogaea) lectin (PNA) and Vicia villosa agglutinin (VVA), respectively.
Results: Unlike expression of T-Ag, that of Tn-Ag was correlated closely with vascular permeation of cancer cells, their parametrial spread and metastasis to the pelvic lymph nodes, and also with a low 5-year survival rate. No correlation was found between expression of Tn-Ag and other parameters, such as the clinical stage or histologic type. Furthermore, Tn-Ag expression was independent of the degree of cancer involvement in the fibromuscular stroma of the cervix, which seems to be a marker of the aggressiveness of cancer cell proliferation.
Conclusions: These results indicate that Tn-Ag expression is a useful indicator of the potential for metastatic potential of cancer cells. Thus, a combination of estimations of the degree of cancer involvement in the cervical stroma and Tn-Ag expression seems the most useful for predicting the prognosis of patients with cervical cancer.