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Prognostic significance of monoclonal antibody 3H‐1 reactivity with squamous‐cell head‐and‐neck cancers
Author(s) -
Kearsley John H.,
Leonard J. Helen,
Takahashi Hiroyuki,
Battistutta Diana,
Parsons Peter G.,
Moss Denis J.
Publication year - 1991
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.2910470611
Subject(s) - staining , pathology , monoclonal antibody , monoclonal , immunohistochemistry , head and neck , biology , antibody , medicine , immunology , surgery
Abstract We report the reactivity of a novel murine IgM monoclonal antibody (MAb), 3H‐1, in formalin‐fixed tissue from a series of 44 patients with squamous‐cell cancers (SCCs) of the upper aerodigestive tract. The antigen detected by 3H‐1 MAb is not expressed in simple squamous epithelia and only rarely in non‐squamous malignancies. The following staining patterns were found to be associated with a progressively unfavourable prognosis: membranous, diffuse cytoplasmic and focal cytoplasmic/nil staining. There were no statistically‐significant associations between focal cytoplasmic/nil staining and traditionally used prognostic parameters such as tumour size, nodal involvement or pathologic grade. However, multivariate analyses demonstrated that focal or nil staining was a significant independent prognostic factor for survival ( p < 0.001) and was the only significant prognostic factor for relapse ( p < 0.001). The converse applied to tumours with predominantly membranous staining ( p = 0.004). 3H‐I MAb, with the advantage of relying on the pattern rather than the intensity of staining, makes it possible to identify different cellular phenotypic sub‐populations more accurately than by conventional means, and may ultimately improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying transformation from a benign or proliferative state to a malignant one.