Altered glycosylation of
proteins in
cancer cells is one of the main processes responsible for
anaplasia, invasion and metastatic potential of neoplastic cells.
Lectins are nonimmunogenetic compounds which specifically detect certain terminal
sugars of
glycoconjugates. The aim of the present study was to identify the N-
acetylgalactosamine (GalNac) containing
glycoconjugates in
cancer cells in all grades of gastric
carcinoma.
Paraffin blocks belong to 30 patients of gastric
carcinoma (10 cases from each grade) was collected from pathology file of Ali-Ebn-Abitaleb Hospital in Zahedan during 2005-2007. Prepared sections (5-7 μm in thickness) were stained by
Alcian Blue,
hematoxylin and
eosin (H&E) and
helix pomatia agglutinin (HPA) conjugated
lectin.
Lectin diluted up to 10 μg/ml in PBS (0.1M, pH=6.8).
Lectin reactivity was visualized by 0.03% diaminobenzidine (DAB)
solution. Sections were graded according to staining intensity to
lectin (0-4+). Although there was some difference for
lectin staining intensity between
cancer cells in different grades of gastric
carcinoma, statistical analysis showed that there was only a significant difference for
cancer cells reactivity between histopathological grades of II and III. The pattern of reactivity to HPA
lectin were also different from all histopathological grades. It seems that in
cancer cells, the amount and distribution of GalNac containing
glycoconjugate differ from neoplastic cells of different histopathological grades in gastric
carcinoma.