Clinicopathologic evaluation of CDw75 antigen expression in colorectal adenocarcinomas

CDw75, a B lymphocyte surface antigen, is a sialylated carbohydrate epitope, which is generated by the enzyme beta galactosyl alpha 2,6 sialyltransferase (Sia-T1). In colon carcinomas, although higher levels of Sia-T1 has been described and found to be correlated with metastatic potential of tumor cells, the expression of CDw75 antigen still remains unknown. To address this issue, we investigated immunohistochemically CDw75 antigen expression in 195 colorectal adenocarcinomas and their nodal metastases. The correlation between CDw75 antigen expression with selected clinicopathologic variables was analyzed by using Chi-square and Fisher s exact tests. Positive staining was observed in 101 cases. Non-neoplastic mucosa was negative consistently. The frequency of positivity was decreased according to the degree of differentiation (p<0.001). Antigen expression was found to be associated with deeper penetration (p<0.006), positive lymph nodes (p<0.001), distant metastases (p<0.006) and advanced stage (p<0.001). Same relationships were detected in well and moderately differentiated tumors when CDw75 immunoreactivity was evaluated in each histologic grade separately. Our findings indicate that CDw75 antigen expression may be a good indicator of the biological aggressiveness of colorectal adenocarcinomas especially in tumors with well and moderately differentiated morphology.