Large-bowel carcinomas with different ploidy, related to secretory component, IgA, and CEA in epithelium and plasma

Abstract

Summary.-Immunofluorescence staining for carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), secretory component (SC), and epithelial IgA was evaluated semiquantitatively in 85 large-bowel carcinomas in relation to degree of tumour differentiation, Dukes' stage, and plasma CEA level. The tumours were divided into a near-diploid (ND, 28) and an aneuploid group (AN, 57) by means of flow-cytometric DNA measurements. Expression of SC and IgA in neoplastic epithelium was positively related to differentiation in both groups. The AN tumours scored significantly higher for CEA than the ND ones, but the staining was apparently unrelated to differentiation or Dukes' stage. CEA expression in the transitional mucosa adjacent to ND tumours was negatively correlated with tumour differentiation, whereas epithelial IgA and SC in this zone showed a substantially higher positive correlation with tumour differentiation, and a somewhat stronger negative correlation with Dukes' stage in the ND than in the AN group. Plasma CEA levels were significantly related to Dukes' stage, only in patients with AN tumours, and only in this group were positively correlated with estimates of total tumour CEA for Dukes' stages A and B. For Dukes' stages C and D (disseminated tumours), moreover, the plasma CEA levels were found to be significantly higher in the AN group. These findings indicate that the DNA profile of large-bowel carcinomas is related both to the way neoplastic cells influence the activity of the transitional mucosa and their capacity for expression and release of epithelial products. AN tumours thus seem to be more active as "secretors" of CEA than ND ones.

Flow cytometric DNA ploidy pattern in dysplastic mucosa, and in primary and metastatic carcinomas in patients with longstanding ulcerative colitis

“…We have earlier reported similar proportions of aneuploidy in colorectal carcinomas from larger series of patients without ulcerative colitis (Rognum et al, 1982;1987b;Meling et al, 1991). Other studies have also reported similar proportions of aneuploid carcinomas in patients with ulcerative colitis (Hammarberg et al, 1984;Melville et al, 1988).…”

Is heterogeneous expression of HLA-DR antigens and CEA along with DNA-profile variations evidence of phenotypic instability and clonal proliferation in human large bowel carcinomas?

“…Preparation and staining of the single cell suspensions with ethidium bromide (Gohde & Dittrich, 1971) were performed as detailed elsewhere (Rognum et al, 1982b , 1983), where-as those with one or more peaks above that level were considered as being distinctly aneuploid (AN). The criteria used for splitting the tumours into a ND and an AN group have been described and discussed in detail previously (Rognum et al, 1982b).…”

Prognostic significance of CEA immunoreactivity patterns in large bowel carcinoma tissue

“…This notion has been confirmed in our study correlating the CEA expression status directly to data on survival in a large series of patients with long well documented follow-up periods. Rognum et al (1982), however, were not able to show a correlation between the intensity of CEA expression and differentiation of large bowel tumours. Moreover plasma CEA levels do not seem to correspond with the intensity of CEA immunoreactivity in individual patients (Lewis & Keep, 1981).…”