HISTOCHEMICAL DETECTION OF CARBOHYDRATES IN NON-SMALL CELL CARCINOMA SECTIONS: ITS ASSOCIATION WITH SOME CLINIC-PATHOLOGICAL FEATURES
RANCÉS BLANCO *
Department of Quality Control, Center of Molecular Immunology, Laboratory of Specific Recognition and Biological Activity, 216 Street and 15 Avenue, Atabey, Playa, P.O.Box 16040, 11600 Havana, Cuba.
CHARLES E. RENGIFO
Department of Pathology, Manuel Fajardo General Hospital, Zapata and D Street Vedado, Plaza de la Revolución, 10400 Havana, Cuba.
MERCEDES CEDEÑO
Department of Quality Control, Center of Molecular Immunology, Laboratory of Specific Recognition and Biological Activity, 216 Street and 15 Avenue, Atabey, Playa, P.O.Box 16040, 11600 Havana, Cuba
KARINA REYES
Research Direction, Laboratory of Antibodies and Experimental Biomodels, 23 Avenue and Caney Highway, Santiago de Cuba 90400, Cuba.
MILAGROS FRÓMETA
Department of Quality Control, Center of Molecular Immunology, Laboratory of Specific Recognition and Biological Activity, 216 Street and 15 Avenue, Atabey, Playa, P.O.Box 16040, 11600 Havana, Cuba.
ENRIQUE RENGIFO
Department of Quality Control, Center of Molecular Immunology, Laboratory of Specific Recognition and Biological Activity, 216 Street and 15 Avenue, Atabey, Playa, P.O.Box 16040, 11600 Havana, Cuba.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Further investigations in order to elucidate the biological significance of mucins in carcinomas have been suggested. For that reason, in this study it was evaluated the tissue expression of periodic acid-Schiff (PAS), PAS-Diastase (PAS-D) and Alcian blue (AB) positive substances in lung carcinoma, as well as its association with a variety of clinic-pathological features. In general, 47.8% of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) sections were PAS positive, 30.4% expressed PAS-D positive substances and 20.3% were positive to AB staining. Concerning to small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC), no expression of PAS-D and AB molecules were detected (0/11) while, 9.1% of cases were stained with PAS. When the expression of PAS positive reaction were compared between NSCLC and SCLC significantly differences were evidenced (p = .02). The histochemical staining with PAS, PAS-D and AB was significantly higher in adenocarcinoma as compared with epidermoid carcinoma and the rest of tumors (p < .000, p = .001 and p = .03; respectively). Interestingly, the tissue expression of PAS and AB-positive substances was higher in patient displaying other sites metastasis (p = .001 and p = .009; respectively) as compared with patients with no metastatic disease. However, the impact of mucins expression in the prognosis of NSCLC patients should be re-evaluated using an increased number of cases.
Keywords: Non-small cell lung cancer, histochemistry, carbohydrates