-Context -Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) can be detected in colorectal tumor tissue but its role in the survival of patients remains controversial. Objective -To characterize the expression of tissue CEA using immunohistochemical staining in colorectal tumors and to analyze the relationship between this finding and preoperative plasmatic level of CEA, morphologic features and survival of patients operated with curative intent for colorectal carcinoma. Method -Forty-seven patients were included in the study: 18 (38.3%) males and 29 (61.7%) females, with a mean age of 67.8 ± 9.7 years (37 to 84 years). Immediately before laparotomy, pre-operative serum levels of CEA were obtained where normal levels were considered ≤2.5 ng/mL for non-smokers, and ≤5.0 ng/mL for smokers. CEA immunohistochemical studies were carried out using anti-human CEA monoclonal mouse antibody. The expression of immunostaining for each neoplasia was classified according to the pattern of CEA tissular distribution into apical or cytoplasmic. The variables considered for the statistical analysis were plasmatic preoperative CEA level, location of the lesion within the large intestine, lesion diameter, lymph node involvement, Duke's classification, vein invasion, grade of cellular differentiation, survival and pattern of CEA tissular distribution. The statistical models utilized were Spearman's correlation and the Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and Student t tests. Patients' survival was analyzed using the KaplanMeier method. Results -The mean preoperative CEA value was 15.4 ± 5.5 ng/mL (0.2 to 92.1 ng/mL). The neoplasm was located in the colon in 29 (61.7%) and in the rectum in 18 (38.3%) patients. Eight (17.0%) patients were classified as Duke's stage A, 22 (46.8%) as stage B and 17 (36.2%) as stage C. On immunohistochemical studies, the pattern of CEA tissular distribution was apical in 33 (70.2%) patients and cytoplasmic in 14 (29.8%) patients. Patients with apical patterns presented a mean sera CEA level of 15.5 ± 6.5 ng/mL while those with cytoplasmic pattern attained a mean sera CEA level of 15.1 ± 7.3 ng/mL, with no significant difference between these values (P = 0.35). Apical distribution of CEA occurred in 6 (12.8%) Duke A, 18 (38.2%) Duke B and 9 (12.2%) Duke C patients, while cytoplasmic CEA tissular distribution was observed in 2 (4.2%) Duke A, 3 (6.4%) Duke B and 9 (19.1%) Duke C patients. Patients with Duke B neoplasms presented significantly more apical CEA tissular distribution patterns (P = 0.049) than subjects with cytoplasmic CEA tissular patterns. The apical CEA tissular distribution pattern in neoplasms was significantly more frequent in neoplasms with no lymph node compromise compared to the cytoplasmic pattern (P = 0.50). However, no significant differences were seen between apical and cytoplasmic CEA tissular distribution patterns in terms of colon or rectal site (P = 0.21), lesion diameter across greatest axis (P = 0.19), vein invasion (P = 0.13) or degree of cellular differentiation (P = 0.19). Of the 47 patients...

Introdução: O carcinoma colorretal é uma das neoplasias mais incidentes nos países ocidentais. É controverso se os níveis séricos e a imunoexpressão tecidual do marcador tumoral CA 19-9 estão relacionados com o comprometimento linfonodal e com a invasão linfática no carcinoma colorretal. Casuística e métodos: Em 45 pacientes com carcinoma colorretal operados, o nível de CA19-9 pré-operatório e a imunoexpressão do CA19-9 no tecido neoplásico foram analisados. Valores de CA19-9 ≥ 37 UI/ml foram considerados aumentados. As amostras do tecido com carcinoma colorretal foram submetidas ao estudo imunoistoquímico, com anticorpo monoclonal anti-CA19-9. A intensidade de expressão do CA19-9 na neoplasia foi semiquantificada em leve (+/+++), moderada (++/+++), intensa (+++/+++) ou ausente. Foram comparados os níveis séricos e a imunoexpressão tecidual do marcador CA19-9 com o comprometimento linfonodal e a invasão linfática. Resultados: O nível sérico e a imunoexpressão tecidual do CA19-9 não se relacionaram significantemente com o comprometimento linfonodal (p = 0,49 e p = 0,45, respectivamente) ou com a invasão linfática (p = 0,12 e p = 0,74, respectivamente). Conclusões: O nível sérico e a imunoexpressão tecidual do CA19-9 não refletem o comprometimento linfonodal e a presença de invasão linfática no carcinoma colorretal.

Sera and tissular levels of the CA19-9 marker exhibited, each other, a directly proportional relationship. The morphological features of the neoplasia had no influence on sera CEA or CA19-9 levels or tissular immunoexpression of CA19-9.