The accurate determination of levels of differentiation is of prognostic value in human head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs). Because the deliberate selection of biochemical determinants accompanying certain stages of differentiation can refine the predictive power of histochemical assessments, the application of the quantitative evaluation of staining distribution and intensity by computer-assisted microscopy is one prerequisite to potential improvements. We used 2 innovative approaches with peanut agglutinin based on encouraging results with respect to common lectin-histochemistry. First, we used a custom-made neoglycoprotein to monitor the presence of Thomsen-Friedenreich (T) antigen-binding sites. Second, we measured the presence of 2 galectins immunohistochemically and, at the same time, measured lectin-histochemically the presence of accessible ligands for the endogenous lectins. We also monitored the presence of calcyclin, a protein with relevance to cell cycle progression or exocytosis. With 61 cases of HNSCC as their basis, including 31 oral, 20 laryngeal, and 10 hypopharyngeal lesions, the data show that the main modifications observed in connection with a loss of differentiation are related to a modification in the levels of both galectin-3/galectin-3-binding site and T-antigen/T-antigen-binding site expressions. The data obtained also suggest that galectin-3 could act as an acceptor site for the T antigen. Because the level of differentiation is known to be indicative of the recurrence rate in HNSCCs and our data clearly indicate that galectin-3 and the T antigen (and their respective binding sites) are involved in dedifferentiation processes, further investigation is warranted into the roles of galectins in HNSCC tumor progression and recurrence analysis.

This is the first study to report data on the expression of seven S100 proteins in different histopathological groups of epithelial head and neck lesions, whose precise embryological origins are still a matter of debate. S100 proteins could possibly be used as markers to target this embryonic origin, since our results show that S100A3 and S100A6 (and, to a lesser extent, S100A5) are expressed differentially across these different groups of epithelial lesions.

Normal and polyposal nasal mucosa differ essentially in sialic acid presentation, while nasal polyps from patients with CF have a higher level of various lectin-reactive galactoside residues than nasal polyps from those without CF.

The accurate determination of levels of differentiation is of prognostic value in human head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs). Because the deliberate selection of biochemical determinants accompanying certain stages of differentiation can refine the predictive power of histochemical assessments, the application of the quantitative evaluation of staining distribution and intensity by computer-assisted microscopy is one prerequisite to potential improvements. We used 2 innovative approaches with peanut agglutinin based on encouraging results with respect to common lectin-histochemistry. First, we used a custom-made neoglycoprotein to monitor the presence of Thomsen-Friedenreich (T) antigen-binding sites. Second, we measured the presence of 2 galectins immunohistochemically and, at the same time, measured lectin-histochemically the presence of accessible ligands for the endogenous lectins. We also monitored the presence of calcyclin, a protein with relevance to cell cycle progression or exocytosis. With 61 cases of HNSCC as their basis, including 31 oral, 20 laryngeal, and 10 hypopharyngeal lesions, the data show that the main modifications observed in connection with a loss of differentiation are related to a modification in the levels of both galectin-3/galectin-3-binding site and T-antigen/T-antigen-binding site expressions. The data obtained also suggest that galectin-3 could act as an acceptor site for the T antigen. Because the level of differentiation is known to be indicative of the recurrence rate in HNSCCs and our data clearly indicate that galectin-3 and the T antigen (and their respective binding sites) are involved in dedifferentiation processes, further investigation is warranted into the roles of galectins in HNSCC tumor progression and recurrence analysis.