[The study on Thomsen-Friedenreich antigen in bladder tumor]

The presence of Thomsen-Friedenreich antigen (T-Ag) against bladder mucosa in bladder tumor cases and control individuals was examined by the immunoperoxidase and the immunofluorescein method using labelled lectin. T-Ag was negative in all 15 cases of non-malignant bladder epithelium, and positive on the cell surface after sialidase treatment (cryptic T-Ag positive). In the 37 out of 72 bladder tumor cases, however, cryptic T-Ag was positive, and in the remaining 35 cases T-Ag was positive or negative after sialidase treatment. Furthermore 55 cases which had received the first treatment by TUR-Bt were investigated. Thirteen of the 31 cryptic T-Ag positive cases recurred during observation after operation whereas 22 of the 24 T-Ag positive or cryptic T-Ag negative cases recurred, the rate being significantly higher for the latter. In addition, the disease-free interval was absolutely longer in the cryptic T-Ag positive cases than in T-Ag positive or cryptic T-Ag negative cases. The exploration of T-Ag in bladder cancer may be valuable for predicting the clinical course after TUR-Bt.