Technique for detection of T-antigen, an early marker of prostatic carcinoma

ABSTRACT

The tumor marker, D-galactose-B[l-3]-N-acetyl-D-galactosamine [GaI-GalNAc, also known as T-antigen] can be identified by a very simple galactose oxidase-Schiff's GOS] reaction either on tissues from patients with adenocarcinoma neoplasms. Gal-GalNAc is expressed in the neoplastic mucosa as well as the remote non-neoplastic mucosa. It is, however, not expressed in mucosa of normal subjects. We have tested the usefulness of the tumor marker D-galactose-beta-[l-->3]-N-acetyl-D-galactosamine in differentiating the benign from the malignant and premalignant lesions of the prostate. A sequential galactose oxidase technique, followed by Schiff's reaction, was done on deparaffinized tissue sections of 35 carcinomas, 25 hyperplasias, 20 foci of adenosis, and 10 normal specimens. While none of the 35 benign prostates and 11 foci of adenosis expressed D-galactose-beta-[l-->3]-N-acetyl-D-galactosamine [100 percent specificity], 62 [95.4 percent sensitivity] of 65 adenocarcinomas variably expressed the marker. We therefore propose that this simple technique may have potential use in routine histopathological analysis of prostatic specimens. This marker may also serve as the basis of assays for early detection of prostatic malignancies