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Carcinoma-associated Tn and sialyl-Tn antigens have been shown to aid in the prediction of tumor aggressiveness. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of Tn and sialyl-Tn antigen expression in human ovarian carcinoma.Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections from 32 primary ovarian carcinomas, 6 benign and 2 normal ovarian tissues were immunostained using monoclonal antibodies against Tn and sialyl-Tn antigens and a streptavidin-biotin-peroxidase method Immunostainings were assessed semiquantitatively and the measurements were then correlated with the established prognostic factors of ovarian carcinoma. i.e. disease stage and histological grade.Of the 32 ovarian carcinomas, 22 (69%) expressed Tn and 28 (87.5%) sialyl-Tn antigens. Immunostaining measures for Tn antigen were significantly associated with the clinical stage (por = 0.02) and histological grade (por = 0.05) of the tumors. The results for sialyl-Tn antigen revealed more significant associations with the clinical stage (por = 0.002) and histological grade (por = 0.007). The clinical stage and histologic grade of the tumors were also highly correlated with each other. Similarly, combined Tn and sialyl-Tn antigen expression revealed significant correlations with the prognostic factors. Benign and normal ovarian tissues showed no reactive Tn and sialyl-Tn antigen.The extent of Tn and sialyl-Tn antigen expression in primary ovarian carcinoma may contribute to the prognosis of the disease.

Altered glycosylation of mucins leading to the expression of T, Tn, and sialyl-Tn antigens has been shown in ovarian carcinoma, but its relationship with prognosis is still unclear. We investigated immunohistochemically the expression of these antigens in 38 (17 serous and 21 mucinous) ovarian carcinomas to assess their potential prognostic value as compared with stage of disease, histopathology of tumors, and survival time of patients. Eight benign ovarian tumors (four serous and four mucinous), and four normal ovarian tissues also were studied. Of the 38 carcinomas, 25 (66%) expressed T, 27 (71%) expressed Tn, and 33 (87%) expressed sialyl-Tn antigens. Most cases (83%) expressed two or all of the three types of antigens simultaneously. Normal ovarian epithelia showed no staining for these antigens, and benign ovarian tumors were either negative or occasionally expressed weak staining in less than 25% of epithelial cell areas. Statistical analyses showed strong associations between Tn and sialyl-Tn antigen expressions and disease stage as well as histological grade. In 19 ovarian carcinoma patients with available survival data, the overall survival times of patients with high Tn or sialyl-Tn antigen expression were significantly worse than those of the patients with negative and low expression (P < .05 and P < .01). In multivariate stepwise regression analysis, disease stage (P = .000) and Tn antigen expression (P = .02) were found to be significant independent parameters associated with the overall survival time. These findings suggest that, with exception of T antigen expression, the expression of Tn and sialyl-Tn antigens in ovarian carcinomas may provide additional prognostic information on patient outcome.