Summary
The expression of the Lewis blood group and its related antigens in fetal, normal adult and malignant tissues of the uterine endometrium was examined immunohistochemically using a panel of mouse monoclonal antibodies with specificities for Lewis-a (La), Sialyl Lewis-a (SLa), Lewis-b (Lb), Lewis-X (LX), Sialyl Lewis-X (SLX) and Lewis-Y (LY) antigens. La, SLa and SLX having one fucose residue were detected in a small number of fetal tissues, while Lb and LY having two fucose residues were found in most cases. In the adult endometrium, expression of Lb and LY was considerably lower than those in fetal tissues, although expression of La and SLa was not different between these two tissues. Expression of LX and SLX was pronouned in adult when compared with fetal tissues. Malignant endometrial glands expressed La, SLa, Lb and LY, extensively, while LX and SLX were expressed less than in normal tissues.
Lb and LY can thus be considered oncofetal antigens, extensively expressed in fetal and malignant tissues but not in normal adult tissues. Expression of Lb and LY was greater than that of La and SLA in carcinoma; an increase in the activity of fucose transferase might be associated with malignant transformation in the uterine endometrium.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abe K, Hakomori S, Ohshiba S (1986) Differential expression of difucosyl type 2 chain (Le Y) defined by monoclonal antibody AH-6 in different locations of colonic epithelia, various histological types of colonic polyps and adenocarcinomas. Cancer Res 46:2639–2644
Atkinson BF, Ernst CS, Herlyn M, Steplewski Z, Sears H, Koprowski H (1982) Gastrointestinal cancer-associated antigen in immunoperoxidase assay. Cancer Res 42:4820–4823
Cardo-Cordon C, Reuter VE, Lloyd KO, Sheinfeld J, Fair WR, Old LJ, Melamed MR (1988) Blood group-related antigens in human urothelium: Enhanced expression of precursor, Lex, and Ley determinants in urothelial carcinoma. Cancer Res 48:4113–4120
Ernst C, Atkinson B, Wysocka M et al. (1984) Monoclonal antibody localization of Lewis antigens in fixed tissue. Lab Invest 50:394–400
Feizi T (1985) Demonstration by monoclonal antibodies that carbohydrate structures of glycoproteins and glycolipids are onco-developmental antigens. Nature 314:53–57
Fox N, Damjanov I, Knowles BB, Solter D (1983) Immunohistochemical localization of the mouse stage-specific embryonic antigen 1 in human tissues and tumors. Cancer Res 43:669–678
Gong F, Hirohashi S, Shimosato Y, Watanabe M, Ino Y, Teshima S, Kodaira S (1985) Expression of carbohydrate antigen 19-9 and stage-specific embryonic antigen 1 in nontumorous and tumorous epithelia of the human colon and rectum. JNCI 75:447–454
Hakomori S, Kannagi R (1983) Glycosphingolipids as tumorassociated and differentiation markers. JNCI 71:231–251
Hakomori S (1984) Tumor-associated carbohydrated antigens. Ann Rev Immunol 2:103–126
Hakomori S (1985) Aberrant glycosylation in cancer cell membranes as focused on glycolipids: Overview and perspectives. Cancer Res 45:2405–2414
Hsu SM, Raine L, Fanger H (1981) Use of avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex (ABC) in immunoperoxidase techniques: A comparison between ABC and unlabeled antibody PAP procedures. J Histochem Cytochem 29:577–580
Inoue M, Sasagawa T, Saito J, Shimizu H, Ueda G, Tanizawa O, Nakayama M (1987) Expression of blood group antigen A, B, H, Lewis-a and Lewis-b in fetal, normal and malignant tissues of the uterine endometrium. Cancer 60:2985–2993
Itzkowitz SH, Yuan M, Fukushi Y et al. (1986) Lewis X and sialylated Lewis X-related antigen expression in human malignant and non-malignant colonic tissues. Cancer Res 46:2627–2632
Itzkowitz SH, Yuan M, Ferell LD, Ratcliffe RM, Chung YS, Satake K, Ueyama K, Jones RT, Kim TS (1987) Cancer-associated alterations of blood group antigen expression in the human pancreas. JNCI 79:425–434
Juhl BR, Hartzen SH, Hainau B (1986) Lewis-a antigen in transitional cell tumors of the urinary bladder. Cancer 58:222–228
Kanai T, Hirohashi S, Upton MP, Ino Y, Shimosato Y (1987) Expression of Lewis blood group antigens in cancerous and noncancerous liver. Jpn J Cancer Res 78:968–976
Kannagi R, Fukushi Y, Tachikawa T, Noda A, Shin S, Shigeta K, Hirajwa N, Fukuda Y, Inamoto T, Hakomori S, Imura H (1986) Quantitativ and qualitative characterization of human cancer-associated serum glycoprotein antigens expressing fucosyl or sialy-fucosyl type 2 chain polylactosamine. Cancer Res 46:2619–2626
Kawahara M, Chia D, Terasaki PI, Roumans A, Sugich L, Wermes M, Iguro T (1985) Detection of sialylated Lewis-X antigen in cancer sera using a sandwich radioimmunoassay. Int J Cancer 36:421–425
Linas C, Lange PH (1985) Lewis antigens in normal and neoplastic urothelium. Am J Pathol 121:176–182
Magnani JL, Nilsson B, Brockhaus M, Zopf D, Steplewski Z, Koprowski H, Ginsburg VA (1982) Monoclonal antibody-defined antigen associated with gastrointestinal cancer is a ganglioside containing sialylated Lacto-N-fucopentaose II. J Biol Chem 257:14365–14369
Magnani JL, Steplewski Z, Koprowski H, Ginsburg V (1983) Identification of the gastrointestinal and pancreatic cancer-associated antigen detected by monoclonal antibody 19-9 in the sera of patients as a mucin. Cancer Res 43:5489–5492
Ordonez NG, Freedman RS, Herlyn M (1987) Lewis and related tumor-associated determinants on ovarian carcinoma. Gynecologic Oncology 26:1–20
Sakamoto J, Furukawa K, Cordon-Cardo L, Yin BWT, Retting WJ, Oettgen HF, Old LJ, Lloyd KO (1986) Expression of Lewis a, b, X and Y blood group antigens in human colonic tumors and normal tissues and in human tumorderived cell lines. Cancer Res 1986; 46:1553–1561
Saltor D, Knowles BB (1978) Monoclonal antibody defining a stage-specific mouse embryonic antigen (SSEA-1). Proc Natl Acad Sci [USA] 75:5565–5569
Shi ZR, McIntype LJ, Knowles BB, Solter D, Kim YS (1984) Expression of carbohydrate antigen, stage-specific embryonic antigen 1 in human colonic adenocarcinoma. Cancer Res 44:1142–1147
Yuan M, Itzkowitz SH, Palekar A, Shamsuddin AM, Phelps PC, Trump BF, Kim YS (1985) Distribution of blood group antigens A B H Lewis-a and Lewis-b in human normal, fetal and malignant colonic tissue. Cancer Res 45:4499–4511
Yuan M, Itzkowitz SH, Ferrell LD, Fukushi Y, Palekar A, Hakomori S, Kim YS (1987) Expression of Lewis X and sialylated Lewis-X antigens in human colorectal polyps. JNCI 78:479–488
Watkins WM (1980) Biochemistry and genetics of ABO, Lewis, and P blood group systems. Adv Hum Genet 10:1–136
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (62480346) from the Ministry of Health and Welfare
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Inoue, M., Nakayama, M. & Tanizawa, O. Altered expression of Lewis blood group and related antigens in fetal, normal adult and malignant tissues of the uterine endometrium. Vichows Archiv A Pathol Anat 416, 221–228 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01678981
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01678981