Close Correlation between Increased Sialyl-Lewis^x Expression and Metastasis in Human Gastric Carcinoma

Abstract. Expression of sialyl-Lewis^x (sLe^x) antigen was studied immunohistochemically in 110 resected human gastric carcinomas using an anti-sLe^x monoclonal antibody. Lymph node, liver, and peritoneal metastases were clearly more prevalent in tumors expressing high levels of sLe^x than in those with no or low-level sLe^x expression. No correlation was found between sLe^x expression and histologic grade or histologic type of the Lauren classification. Among the tumors with lymph node metastasis, 44% expressed high levels of sLe^x in both the primary tumor and involved lymph nodes, and 14% of the metastatic lesions demonstrated increased sLe^x expression. The 5-year survival rate of the patients undergoing complete (R0) gastric resections was 60% in the sLe^x high-expression group, which was significantly lower than that of the sLe^x low-expression group (81%) and of the no-expression group (87%) (

p < 0.05). These results suggest that high-level sLe ^x expression is related to both an increased risk of metastasis and poor prognosis in gastric cancer patients.