Abstract:

 Objective   To evaluate expression of several mucins in invasive breast ductal carcinoma and the correlation with clinicopathological features. Methods   Tissue microarray (TMA) and immunohistochemical(IHC) technologies were used to evaluate expression of several mucins (MUC1, MUC2, MUC5AC and MUC6) in 207 cases of invasive breast ductal carcinoma and to analyze their correlation with clinicopathological features. Results   MUC1 expression was detected in 89.4% of cases and its expression was associated with lower histological grade, estrogen receptor (ER) positive and absence of lymph node (LN) metastasis. The subcellular localization of MUC1, but not expression level, had a prognostic value in postoperative recurrence and metastasis. MUC2 expression was noticed only in 4.3% of all cases. MUC5AC and MUC6 were expressed in 42.0% and 22.2% of cases respectively. There were associations between MUC5AC and lower histological grade as well as ER-positive, and MUC6 was positively correlated with HER-2. But there was no association between mucins and other clinicopathological variables. Conclusion   WhileMUC1 is expressed in the majority of the cases, others (MUC2, MUC5AC, MUC6) are not. Ectopic expression of MUC1 might be a potential prognostic indicator, which needs further study for confirmation.

Key words: Breast carcinoma; Mucin1; Mucin2; Mucin5AC; Mucin6; Tissue microarray