Histochemical Stady of N-Acetylgalactosamine Containing Glycoconjagate in Intradactal Carcinoma of the Breast By Hpa Lectin

Introduction: glycoconjugates are a class of glycoproteins or glycolipids,their terminal sugars are responsible for cell-cell and/or cell-extracellularmatrix interactions. aberrant glycosylation of these compounds are one ofthe most important aspects of cellular transformation, metastasis andescape of tumoral cells from immune system and resistance toantineoplastic drugs. recent studies showed that patients with hpa (helixpomatia agglutinin) positive intraductal carcinoma cells have worseprognosis compared to patients with hpa negative cells. the aim of thepresent study was to define the presence of galnac terminal sugar inglycoconjugate of different grades of intraductal breast carcinoma and tocompare the degree and the pattern of reactivity of tumoral cells to hpalectin.material and methods: the paraffin blocks belonging to 20 patients ofintraductal carcinoma was chosen from pathology archive of khatam-aianbiahospital in zahedan and 5-7 micrometer sections were prepared. twoexpert pathologists determined histopathological grading independently. thelectin histochemistry was performed using hpa. the same observersdetermined histochemical grading. data were analyzed by npar (nonparametric)test of mann whitney.results: results of this study revealed that the pattern and the degree ofhistochemical reactivity of neoplastic cells differ in all grades of intraductalcarcinoma. histochemical staining showed significant difference betweengrades of intraductal carcinoma of the breast (p<0.003). the lowest reactivitywas seen in grade i and the highest in grade iii. furthermore, the reaction oftumoral cells was primarily confined to apical surfaces of cells in grade i, tothe golgi zone in grade ii, and to a diffuse cytoplasmic distribution in gradeiii.conclusion: our data suggest that the hpa reactivity of tumoral cells weredifferent in all grades of intraductal carcinoma. the tumor cells showedaberrant glycosylation, which occurred in the course of anaplastic changes.it seems that our data suggest a potential and clinically important role ofhpa reactivity to predict the invasive nature of malignant tumoral cells ofintraductal carcinoma of the breast.