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Vol.40 No.2 contents

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- Original Article -

Immunohistochemical Evaluation of MUC1 Mucin Expression in Non-small Cell Lung Cancers

Hiroshi Hashimoto¹, Hiroto Takahashi^1,2, Motoyasu Sagawa², Masami Sato², Chiaki Endo², Akira Sakurada², Hirokazu Aikawa², Nobuyuki Sato², Yasuki Saito³ and Shigefumi Fujimura^2
1Department of Surgery, Sendai Hospital National Defense Agency, Sendai Japan, ²Department of Thoracic Surgery, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai Japan, ³Department of Thoracic Surgery, National Sendai Hospital

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We investigated the immunohistochemical expression of carcinoma-associated MUC1 in human lung cancer tissues using the monoclonal antibody MUSE11. We also investigated the expression of sialyl-Lewis x (sLe^x) using monoclonal antibody FH-6. According to the histological type of lung cancer, MUSE11 positivity was observed in 90% of patients with adenocarcinoma (72/80), 51.6% of patients with squamous cell carcinoma (49/95), and 54.5% of patients with large cell carcinoma (12/22). A significant difference was detected in the expression of MUSE11 between adenocarcinoma and the two other histological types. Thus, MUSE11 appears to be a candidate for a tumor-associated marker in patients with lung adenocarcinoma. There was no relationship between the expression of MUSE11 and T factors, N factors, pathological stage, grade of differentiation, or prognosis. A significant relationship was detected between the expression of MUSE11 and that of FH-6. Earlier studies have revealed that part of sLe^x is associated with the MUC1 polypeptide. Our results suggested that the relationship also existed in human lung cancer specimens.
key words: MUC1, MUSE11, FH-6, Lung cancer, Immunohistochemistry

Received: August 6, 1997
Accepted: January 25, 2000

JJLC 40 (2): 85-91, 2000