[Estrogen receptor status and expression of carbohydrate antigens in breast cancer]

Seventy-six cases of primary cancer of the breast were studied by clinicopathological examination and immunohistological examination using monoclonal antibodies. They were composed of 40 cases positive for estrogen receptor (ER) and 36 cases negative for ER, the ER-positive rate being 52.6%. ER was detected more frequently in the postmenopausal group than in the premenopausal group, though the ER-positive rate was not significantly different between the two groups. The disease was advanced with a large tumor (greater than t3) and high-grade lymph node metastasis in ER-negative cases compared with ER-positive cases. The carbohydrate antigens specific to SPan-1, CA 19-9 and SLEX were found in 34.2%, 39.5% and 68.4% of the cases studied, respectively. These antigens were detected more often, if not significantly, in cases with a large mass and high-grade metastasis than in those with a small mass and without metastasis or with low-grade metastasis. The SPan-1-positive rate was significantly higher in ER-negative cases graded t1 or t2 than in ER-positive cases falling under the same category of tumor size. Significant differences were also noticed between the ER-negative and ER-positive groups with respect to CA 19-9-positive rate (t2 category) and SLEX-positive rate (t3 category). Similar data were obtained when our cases were classified by the degree of lymph node metastasis. In consequence, the present observations suggested that the expression of carbohydrate antigens in primary breast cancer and disease progress might be correlated with ER status.