Lectins in diagnosis of bladder carcinoma.

With the purpose of studying changes in the expression of glycoconjugate structures in nonmalignant and cancerous lesions of urothelium the lectins ConA, TKA, PNA, DBA, STA, LFA, UEA, MPA, RCA, LCA, GSA1, SBA, GSA2, WGA, PHA and Lot were tested in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections of (1) cold biopsies from normal urothelium and bladder cancer of different grades (G1-G3) in humans, (2) normal transitional epithelium and N-butyl-N(4-hydroxybutyl)nitrosamine (BBN)-induced bladder cancer in animal experiments (Wistar rat), and (3) human transitional cancer cell line HT 1376. In human urothelium TKA and SBA were positive markers demonstrating positive staining reactions in all tumor grades without binding to normal epithelium. They stained also the human transitional carcinoma cell line HT 1376 (G3). In Wistar rats DBA, ConA, LCA, SBA, GSA2 and WGA had a specific affinity to BBN-induced carcinoma. Findings of positive lectin marker in transitional cell cancer may offer progress in diagnostics and therapy.