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Lewis blood group antigens (a and b) in human breast tissues. Loss of lewis‐b in breast cancer cells and correlation with tumor grade
Author(s) -
Idikio Halliday A.,
Manickavel V.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(19910915)68:6<1303::aid-cncr2820680620>3.0.co;2-2
Subject(s) - breast cancer , medicine , antigen , malignancy , staining , pathology , mammary gland , cancer , immunology
The Lewis blood group antigens (Lewis‐a [Le a ] and Lewis‐b [Le b ]) and their precursors are present on various normal human epithelial cell surfaces. The authors examined 35 benign and malignant human breast lesions using mouse monoclonal antibodies to synthetic Le a and Le b carbohydrate antigens. Normal breast lobular and ductal epithelium and benign breast lesions showed Le b staining but only occasional Le a staining. In invasive ductal carcinomas of breast, of all grades, a loss of Le b antigen staining was found in 80% of the breast cancer cases. This reduced Le b antigen expression increased with the grade of malignancy. Therefore, the loss of Le b blood group antigens on breast cancer cell surfaces may suggest altered fucosylation patterns in malignant cells and reflect the degree of malignancy and/or invasiveness.