Expression of Thomsen-Friedenreich antigen as a marker of poor prognosis in pulmonary adenocarcinoma.

The prognostic significance of Thomsen-Frienden-reich antigen (T antigen) expression was investigated in 126 patients with pulmonary adenocarcinoma by immunohistochemical staining of tumor specimens with a monoclonal antibody specific for T antigen. T antigen immunoreactivity was detected in tumor tissue from 60 (48%) patients. T antigen expression did not correlate with gender, tumor size, presence of lymph node or distant metastasis, stage of disease, or degree of tumor cell differentiation. However, the presence of T antigen immunoreactivity correlated significantly with overall survival. The presence of T antigen immunoreactivity in tumor cells is a useful marker of prognosis in patients with pulmonary adenocarcinoma.