Carcinoembryonic antigen immunoereactivity patterns and tumour morphologic parameters in patients with colorectal cancer

ABSTRACT

The cellular expression of carcinoembryonic antigen [CEA] was studied immunohistochemically in 98 colorectal cancer specimens. The tumours were categorized into three groups according to the predominant staining pattern, which was either apical [26 cases], cytoplasmic [47 cases] or stromal [25 cases]. A significant correlation was found between CEA immunoreactivity patterns and either, the histologic grading [P < 0.001], nuclear grading [P < 0.001], mucin synthesis [P < 0.01], blood and lymph vessels invasion [P < 0.01], lymph nodes metastases [P < 0.01] or the number of the lymph nodes involved [P < 0.01]. So, well-differentiated tumours generally showed an apical CEA pattern, poorly differentiated tumours showed a stromal CEA pattern, whereas most moderately differentiated tumours showed a cytoplasmic CEA pattern. No statistically significant correlation was noted between CEA immunoreactivity patterns and the age and sex of the patients, location or gross appearance of the tumours or Dukes' classification. However, an inverse relationship was noted between CEA staining patterns and the size of tumours. We conclude that CEA immunoreactivity patterns can provide more data that are relevant for the prognosis of colorectal cancer. However, we advise a longer follow-up of the patients to study the relation between CEA patterns and both tumour recurrence and survival of the patients