ISSN:
1432-1335
Keywords:
Blood group antigens
;
Estrogen and progesterone receptor
;
Breast cancer
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
Abstract Estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) hormone receptor status and levels were correlated with blood group antigen (A, B, H, Lewis-a and Lewis-b) expression in 48 cases of human breast cancer. Reduced expression of all the blood group antigens was observed with statistically significant reductions for H, Lewis-a and Lewis-b (P〈0.05). The proportions of ER- and PR-positive breast cancers staining for Lewis-b were greater than in hormone-receptor-negative cancers but the differences were not significant. The loss of Lewis-b antigen in breast cancer increased with tumor grade but did not correlate with axillary lymph node metastases. Loss of Lewis-b antigen is probably not a predictor of local recurrence and survival in the short period of observation. We conclude that the loss of H, Lewis-a and especially, Lewis-b in breast cancer reflects the invasiveness of breast cancer and that Lewis-a and b expression is probably only marginally and not significantly affected by steroid hormone receptor status and levels.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01215930
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