The expression of sialyl Lewis-X antigen in LoVo, HT29 cell lines of colorectal cancer and its correlation with metastatic potential]

To study the correlation of sialyl Lewis-X (SLeX) antigen expression with the metastatic potential of human colorectal cancer.The expression of biosynthetic enzyme of SLeX antigen--alpha1, 3Fuc-T mRNA in various cell lines of colorectal cancer possessed with different metastatic potentials (LoVo and HT(29)) was investigated by in situ hybridization. The expression of SLeX antigen was studied using immunohistochemistry and fluorescence-activated flow cytometry qualitatively and quantitatively.The expression level of alpha1, 3Fuc-T mRNA and SLeX antigen in highly metastatic LoVo cells was high (21.2 +/- 7.7, 32.8 +/- 10.9, P < 0.05), and the expression level was low in HT(29) cells (10.8 +/- 5.2, 21.9 +/- 8.8) which are known possessed with a lower metastatic potential.The expression of SLeX antigen is correlated to the metastatic potentiality of human colorectal cancer.