Altered expression of sialyl-Tn, Lewis antigens and carcinoembryonic antigen between primary and metastatic lesions of uterine cervical cancers.

Immunohistochemical examination was performed of serial sections of 24 normal human adult cervical tissues and 53 human cervical carcinomas including 36 cases with lymph node metastasis. For this investigation, monoclonal antibodies directed to Lewis-X, Lewis-Y, sialyl-dimeric Lewis-X (SDLX), sialyl-Tn (STn) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) were used. STn and CEA antigens were expressed very weakly in the normal cervical epithelium but strongly in the cancer cells, indicating the antigens to be oncogenic antigens of cervical squamous cell carcinoma. No significant difference in immunoreactivity was observed between primary and metastatic lesions of carcinoma or between primary lesions with and without metastasis. However, the expression patterns of STn and Lewis-Y antigens were quite different between primary lesions and metastatic lesions. In primary lesions the cancer cell nests tended to be stained centrally, but in metastatic lesions the cancer cell nests tended to be stained peripherally. This finding may reflect an important role of these carbohydrate chains in the process of metastasis of cervical squamous cell carcinoma to regional lymph nodes.