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Objective: To study the expression of a glycoprotein of plant origin in normal, benign and malignant breast tissues., Methods: Expression of a plant glycoprotein was examined in 5 samples of normal breast tissues, 20 fibro-adenoma and 136 breast cancer by SABC immunohistochemical staining and the results were analyzed by SPSS statistics software., Results: No positive staining was detected in normal breast tissues (0/5). Weak staining was observed in 4 of 20 (20.0%) breast fibro-adenoma. Positive staining was demonstrated in 116 out of 136 (85.3%) breast cancer specimens. The differences were statistically significant. The expression of plant-associated human cancer antigen was related to pathological grade (P < 0.05), tissue invasiveness (P < 0.01) and recurrence (P < 0.05), but not to patients' age, tumor size and c-erbB-2 expression., Conclusion: The plant glycoprotein studied may be a human cancer-associated antigen which might be a potential marker of breast cancer.

Aim: To study the relationship between the expression profiles of a plant-associated human cancer antigen and carcinogenesis of esophagus and its significance., Methods: We analyzed expression of a plant-associated human cancer antigen in biopsy specimens of normal (n=29), mildly hyperplastic (n=29), mildly (n=30), moderately (n=27) and severely dysplastic (n=29) and malignant esophageal (n=30) tissues by immunohistochemistry., Results: The plant-associated human cancer antigen was mainly confined to the cytoplasm and showed diffuse type of staining. Positive staining was absent or weak in normal (0/30) and mildly hyperplastic tissue samples (2/29), while strong staining was observed in severe dysplasia (23/29) and carcinoma in situ (24/30). There was significant difference of its expression between normal mucosa and severely dysplastic tissues (P<0.001) or carcinoma in situ (P<0.001). Significant difference was also observed between mild dysplasia and severe dysplasia (P<0.001) or carcinoma in situ (P<0.001). An overall trend toward increased staining intensity with increasing grade of dysplasia was found. There was a linear correlation between grade of lesions and staining intensity (r=0.794, P<0.001). Samples from esophageal cancer showed no higher levels of expression than those in severely dysplastic lesions (P>0.05)., Conclusion: The abnormal expression of this plant-associated human cancer antigen in esophageal lesions is a frequent and early finding in the normal-dysplasia-carcinoma sequence in esophageal carcinogenesis. It might contribute to the carcinogenesis of esophageal cancer. The abnormal expression of this plant-associated human cancer antigen in esophageal lesion tissues may serve as a potential new biomarker for early identification of esophageal cancer.

Aim: To study the effect of Zheng's plant-protein(ZPP) and phytohemagglutinin(PHA) on proliferation of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) and it's application value on the early diagnosis and therapy of breast cancer., Methods: The proliferation assay was used (3)H-TdR incorporation test. The phenotypes of PBL were analysised by flow cytometry(FCM)., Results: The ZPP significantly and selectively enhanced proliferation activity of PBL of primary breast and precancer cases. Their stimulation indexes(SI) were 3.00+/-1.45 and 2.53+/-0.80, while the SI of simple hyperplasia cases and normal subjecties were 1.18+/-0.47 and 1.06+/-0.91. The former were significantly higher than the latter (P<0.01). The ZPP was also enhanced the expression level of CD3(+),CD4(+) and CD8(+) of PBL., Conclusion: This results suggest that ZPP might be a beast cancer common antigen. These activity might be used in clinical implication to diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.