Expression of endogenous lectins in human small-cell carcinoma and undifferentiated carcinoma of the lung.

Endogenous carbohydrate-binding proteins (lectins) were detected in specimens of tumor tissue (undifferentiated carcinoma and xenografted small-cell carcinoma) from human lung. Fractionation of salt and detergent extracts on different sets of Sepharose columns covalently derivatized with lactose, asialofetuin, melibiose, mannan, and fucose, successive elution with a chelating agent and a specific sugar, and analysis of the eluates by gel electrophoresis, resulted in the characterization of the profiles of endogenous carbohydrate-binding proteins. All preparations were devoid of enzymatic activity. Comparison between the patterns of the two types of lung carcinoma showed significant qualitative differences, e.g. the presence of fucose-binding proteins of apparent molecular weights 60,000 and 80,000 in the undifferentiated carcinoma, and the presence of beta-galactoside-binding proteins of apparent molecular weights 18,000 and 22,000 in the small-cell lung carcinoma. These proteins were not detectable in normal lung tissue. Such differences, documented for the first time for human lung tumors, are of potential importance as a step towards a lectin-based refinement of lung-cancer diagnosis and therapy.