Expression of sialyl-Tn in gastric cancer: correlation with known prognostic factors

Sialyl-Tn (STn) is a core region carcinoma-associated carbohydrate determinant expressed on cancer-associated mucins. Expression of STn has been associated with poor prognosis in colon and ovarian cancer, independent of other prognostic factors such as tumour grade, stage or histological type. Recent studies have suggested that STn expression may be an independent prognostic variable in gastric cancer. We have examined 158 patients with gastric cancer using the antibody B72.3 (Biomira, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada). Of these, 110 patients (70%) expressed STn. Expression of STn did not correlate with tumour differentiation or the Ming classification, but expression was noted more frequently in the relatively good prognosis intestinal type of tumours (chi 2 = 6.9, P = 0.03). Conversely, early-stage cancers showed a significantly lower frequency of expression than more advanced cases (chi 2 = 13.75, P = 0.003). In this patient group, STn expression did not influence survival, and in multivariate regression analysis only tumour stage and Lauren classification were found to be independent prognostic variables.