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Tumour basement membrane laminin in adenocarcinoma of rectum: An immunohistochemical study of biological and clinical significance
Author(s) -
Forster S. J.,
Talbot I. C.,
Clayton D. G.,
Critchley D. R.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.2910370603
Subject(s) - laminin , basement membrane , rectum , pathology , immunoperoxidase , adenocarcinoma , immunohistochemistry , medicine , biology , cancer , extracellular matrix , immunology , antibody , monoclonal antibody , microbiology and biotechnology
Well‐defined basement membrane laminin was seen in 98/158 (62%) rectal adenocarcinomas stained by an immunoperoxidase method. Only 27 (28%) patients with laminin‐positive tumours developed distant metastases, compared with 39 (65%) patients with laminin‐negative carcinomas. The corrected 5‐year survival rates for patients with laminin‐positive and laminin‐negative tumours were 65% and 23%, respectively. Twenty‐five out of 30 (83%) well‐differentiated adenocarcinomas and only 3/15 (17%) poorly differentiated tumours contained basement membrane laminin, with moderately differentiated carcinomas showing intermediate laminin status (70/110, 64%, laminin positive). Forty‐three of 60 (72%) of laminin‐negative tumours had metastasized to regional lymph nodes. These data suggest that laminin may be a marker for differentiation. However, laminin status yields information about tumour behaviour which is not confined to stage and grade, and multivariate analysis shows that it is a better indicator of prognosis than tumour grade as assessed by conventional histology. Although laminin status alone is a less useful predictor of prognosis than Dukes' stage, a patient with a laminin‐positive adenocarcinoma of rectum is 2.7 times as likely to survive 5 years than a patient with a laminin‐negative tumour. Assessment of laminin status, together with Dukes' stage is, therefore, commended as a more precise and objective indicator of prognosis than histological degree of differentiation in colorectal carcinoma.