Cell Surface A, B or O(H) Blood Group Antigens as an Indicator of Malignant Potential in Stage A Bladder Carcinoma

Abstract

The major blood group antigens A, B or O(H) are present on normal bladder epithelium. The presence or absence of these antigens on the cell surface of bladder tumors has been determined in a retrospective longitudinal study using biopsy material from 322 patients who fit the following criteria: 1) the patient presented initially with a superficial bladder tumor, 2) the patient had followup examination for at least 5 years or until evidence of tumor invasion of bladder muscle and 3) the paraffin-embedded tumor specimens were still available. Of 80 patients with stage A tumors that subsequently became invasive 71 (88 per cent) showed deletion of A, B or H antigens from the original superficial tumor. On the other hand, of 146 patients who had no recurrence of superficial tumor for at least 5 years 127 (87 per cent) retained A, B or H antigens. Of 96 patients who had 1 or more superficial recurrences 87 (90 per cent) retained antigens on the initial and subsequent tumors. Analysis of transitional cell surface antigens should help in the identification of those patients with superficial disease who are at greatest risk for invasive bladder cancer.

Specific Red Cell Adherence Test and Unspecific Immune Response in Patients with Superficial Bladder Cancer

“…These findings were confirmed by us and other groups [14,19,20,25,30], If we discuss the findings of this prospec tive study we have to keep in mind the small number of patients. However, we assume that a high percentage of patients with a tumor deleted of ABH antigens will also re veal an impaired immune status assessed in this study by the DNCB skin test and MC.…”

Loss of blood group A antigen expression in bladder cancer caused by allelic loss and/or methylation of the ABO gene

“…A reduction in blood-group A antigen (GalNAca1-3[Fuca1-2]Galb1-3GlcNAc-R) expression was reported in transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the bladder and showed significant correlation with an invasive phenotype. [8][9][10][11] Orntoft and Wolf 12 examined the correlation between blood-group antigen expression and the activity of glycosyltransferases in TCC of the bladder and reported that the activity of A glycosyl transferase was severely reduced in tumors showing loss of A antigen expression. This phenomenon drew our attention, due to the fact that the determinant of the ABO blood-group antigen is synthesized by the action of the ABO gene encoding ABO glycosyltransferase assigned to chromosome 9q34.1, where loss of heterozygosity (LOH) was frequently reported in bladder cancer.…”

Antigenic Detection and Prognosis of Patients with Transitional Cell Carcinoma of the Urinary Bladder

“…It was also found that as individuals age they tend to develop high grade tumors. The possibility is that the presence or absence of blood group isoantigens is merely a reflection of the prevailing tumor grade [ 19], On the other hand, as far as immunity was concerned, the activation of the surface antigen decreases, while age increases; therefore, the aged are at greater risk [12]. In a study on 146 patients with superfi cial bladder tumors, with a follow-up examination for more than 5 years, Newman et al [ 19] found that 87% of the patients without recurrence were positive in surface antigens, while only 13% were negative.…”

“…The possibility is that the presence or absence of blood group isoantigens is merely a reflection of the prevailing tumor grade [ 19], On the other hand, as far as immunity was concerned, the activation of the surface antigen decreases, while age increases; therefore, the aged are at greater risk [12]. In a study on 146 patients with superfi cial bladder tumors, with a follow-up examination for more than 5 years, Newman et al [ 19] found that 87% of the patients without recurrence were positive in surface antigens, while only 13% were negative. Besides, Berg man and Javadpour [20] also showed that among 5 patients without the recurrent tumors, 3 (60%) retained A, B or H antigen, whereas all of the 9 patients with recurrent tumors lost the surface antigens.…”