Correlation between lectin binding and clinical factors in seminoma patients.

The binding of a panel of lectins to histological sections of seminomas was studied. The findings were correlated with different clinical parameters. Concanavalin A and wheat germ agglutinin stained all seminomas whereas horse gram (DBA) and peanut agglutinin did not stain the tumor cells. A varying staining pattern was found with lectins from castor bean (RCA I), soy bean (SBA) and gorse (UEA I) indicating a heterogeneity of the tumor cell population. In the seminomas that were derived from undescended testis there were more cases that showed positive staining with soy bean agglutinin, which shows that the intra-abdominal location of the seminoma might cause changes in the cellular metabolism resulting in glycoconjugates different from those in descended tumors. No correlation was found between the lectin staining and the prognosis, stage or metastasis of the tumor.