EXPRESSION OF MUC2 IN NORMAL GASTRIC MUCOSA, INTESTINAL METAPLASIA AND GASTRIC CARCINOMA BY IMMUNOHISTOCHEMISTRY

Aim: Carcinomas of the stomach are a heterogeneous group of lesions in terms of architecture, pattern of growth, cell differentiation, and histogenesis. Altered MUC 2 expression patterns have been reported previously in intestinal metaplasia as well as in gastric cancer which include increased mucin heterogeneity, glycosylation changes and de novo expression of MUC2 in intestinal metaplasia as well as gastric carcinoma suggesting that MUC2 alterations can be regarded as ?molecular? markers of malignant transformation of gastric mucosa. The aim of the study is to analyze the expression pattern of Mucin MUC2 in Normal, Pre-Neoplastic & Neoplastic Gastric Epithelium. Materials and methods: Formalin fixed paraffin embedded sections of sixty cases which include twenty cases of each normal gastric mucosa, intestinal metaplasia and gastric carcinoma were taken up for the study and subjected to immunohistochemistry using MUC2. Results : The intensity of MUC2 immunostaining in normal gastric mucosa, intestinal metaplasia and gastric carcinoma was evaluated . Immunoreactivity was graded as 0 (negative), ? (trace positive), + (positive), or ++ (strongly positive). Statistical analysis was performed with Chi-Square test and significant differences were noted between these 3 groups. ( p value< 0.05). Conclusion: Mucin expression in intestinal metaplasia and gastric carcinoma is fairly complex. However, we conclude that MUC2 expression rates might be good parameters in progression of intestinal metaplasia to gastric carcinoma and might be a good prognostic marker for gastric carcinoma as it is very well implicated in understanding of gastric carcinogenesis.