TNC and lung carcinoma: The results obtained were: (1) elevated tenascin-C expression was detected in all 30 cases by Western blotting, with mRNA increase in 22 of them; (2) mRNA for a large isoform of tenascin-C, including an alternatively spliced sequence, was expressed in lung cancer tissues but not in normal lungs; and (3) metastasis to lymph nodes was frequently found in cases whose tenascin-C was degraded into small fragments.