Amselgruber W M, Sinowatz F, Kölle S, Lincoln D T, Kayser K
Institute of Veterinary Anatomy II, University of Munich, Germany.
Nutrition. 1995 Sep-Oct;11(5 Suppl):638-42.
Galactosyltransferase (GalTase) has been discovered on a variety of cells where it is believed to be involved in cell-cell adhesion and cell-substratum adhesion as well as in metastasis of carcinoma cells. This immunohistochemical study was undertaken to identify the topography and the cellular distribution of GalTase in normal prostatic tissue, benign prostatic hyperplasia (11 cases), and prostatic carcinoma (26 cases). Immunoreactive GalTase was found to be exclusively associated with carcinoma cells and with premalignant epithelial cells in prostatic hyperplasia. In highly differentiated carcinomas, most of the carcinoma cells are positive for GalTase, whereas in poorly differentiated tumors, GalTase immunoreactivity was restricted to a subset of carcinoma cells with obviously invasive behavior. At the cellular level, GalTase was localized in the cytoplasm and at the cell membrane. In sections of normal prostatic tissue, as well as in unaltered acini of prostatic hyperplasic tissue, GalTase was not expressed. Fibroblasts, smooth muscle cells, and endothelial cells of the prostatic stroma were also consistently negative. With the use of immunoblots, we could confirm the presence of GalTase with a molecular mass of 45 kDa in the extracts of benign prostatic hyperplasic tissue and in prostatic carcinoma tissue but not in normal prostatic tissue. The results of our immunohistochemical study suggest that GalTase is a valuable marker to diagnose neoplastic transformation in prostatic tissue.
半乳糖基转移酶（GalTase）已在多种细胞中被发现，据信它参与细胞间黏附、细胞与基质黏附以及癌细胞转移。本免疫组化研究旨在确定GalTase在正常前列腺组织、良性前列腺增生（11例）和前列腺癌（26例）中的分布位置及细胞分布情况。发现免疫反应性GalTase仅与癌细胞以及前列腺增生中的癌前上皮细胞相关。在高分化癌中，大多数癌细胞GalTase呈阳性，而在低分化肿瘤中，GalTase免疫反应性仅限于具有明显侵袭行为的一部分癌细胞。在细胞水平上，GalTase定位于细胞质和细胞膜。在正常前列腺组织切片以及前列腺增生组织未改变的腺泡中，GalTase未表达。前列腺基质中的成纤维细胞、平滑肌细胞和内皮细胞也始终呈阴性。通过免疫印迹法，我们证实了在良性前列腺增生组织和前列腺癌组织提取物中存在分子量为45 kDa的GalTase，而在正常前列腺组织中则不存在。我们免疫组化研究的结果表明，GalTase是诊断前列腺组织肿瘤转化的一个有价值的标志物。
