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Expression profile of mucins ( MUC 1, MUC 2, MUC 5 AC , and MUC 6) in ovarian mucinous tumours: changes in expression from benign to malignant tumours
Author(s) -
Wang Jayson,
ElBahrawy Mona
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
histopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.626
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1365-2559
pISSN - 0309-0167
DOI - 10.1111/his.12578
Subject(s) - mucin , medicine , pathology
Aims Mucins ( MUC s) constitute a family of glycoproteins expressed by epithelial cells. They show specific tissue‐type expression, and are useful for differentiating between different cancers. Studies have shown changes in MUC expression with tumour progression in a variety of cancers. The aim of this study was to characterize the profile of MUC expression in benign, borderline and malignant intestinal‐type ovarian mucinous tumours ( OMT s). Methods and results MUC 1, MUC 2, MUC 5 AC and MUC 6 expression was studied by immunohistochemistry in 53 OMT s (19 malignant, 25 borderline, and nine benign). The positivity frequencies of MUC 1 in benign, borderline and malignant OMT s were 22.2%, 12%, and 31.6%, respectively. For MUC 2, they were 0%, 40%, and 42.1%, respectively. For MUC 5 AC , they were 100%, 100%, and 94.8%, respectively. For MUC 6, they were 66.7%, 16%, and 26.3%, respectively. Significantly increased MUC 2 expression and decreased MUC 6 expression were seen in borderline and malignant OMT s, as compared with benign tumours. Conclusion This is the first study to compare the expression of all four MUC s in OMT with statistical analysis. We show that MUC 2 expression and MUC 6 expression change with the progression of benign to borderline and malignant tumours. We suggest that these changes may contribute to malignant transformation.