Lectin histochemical study of Gal/ GalNac in esophagitis and carcinoma of esophagus

Changing of terminal sugars of cell surface and extracellular matrix glycoconjugate due to alteration in glycosylation process is one of important characteristic of neoplasia. Because of this, attention of researchers focused on it. The importance of diagnostic, prognostic and treatment protocols of these compounds have been shown in patients with neoplasia. The aim of the present study was to detect the Gal/GalNac terminal sugar in esophagitis and squamous cell carcinoma of esophagus. For this purposes, 20 patients (10 with esophagitis and 10 with squamous cell carcinoma) were chosen from pathology file of Khatam-al-Anbia Hospital in Zahedan. Paraffin Blocks were cut and sections stained by histochemistry (Lectin PNA diluted in PBS with pH = 6.6, 0.1M to 10 g/ml). Reaction of lectin to cells was showed by DAB %0. 03 solution. The results of this study showed the presence of Gal/GalNac in basal and superficial cells of esophagitis as intranuclear and cytoplasmic, respectively. Superficial cells of patients with esophagitis reacted to PNA very strongly than basal cells. Esophageal gland cells of cases with esophagitis reacted to lectin only in apical surfaces. Neoplastic cells of patients with SCC poorly reacted to PNA as intranuclear. Inflammatory cells did not react to lectin in esophagitis and SCC cases. It seems that reaction of neoplastic cells to lectin has been decreased in comparison with cells in esophagitis. Future studies will probably show the exact role of these compounds in neoplasia.