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Correspondence re: A. E. Biemer-Huttmann et al., Mucin Core Protein Expression in Colorectal Cancers with High Levels of Microsatellite Instability Indicates a Novel Pathway of Morphogenesis. Clin. Cancer Res., 6: 1909–1916, 2000.

IPATIMUP and Medical Faculty of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias s/n, 4200 Porto, Portugal

ABSTRACT

In a recent study, Biemer-Huttmann et al. (1) reported that the expression of both MUC2 and MUC5AC mucins is significantly associated with sporadic colorectal carcinomas with MSI-H.¹ Because the coexpression of both MUC2 and MUC5AC was observed in 68% of a series of 22 MSI-H cancers and this mucin expression pattern is identical to that observed in serrated polyps of the colorectum (2) , the authors hypothesize that serrated polyps may represent precursors of MSI-H cancers (1) .

The data reported by Biemer-Huttmann et al. (1) are in accordance with our own results on sporadic gastric carcinomas that show a significantly higher frequency of MUC5AC expression in carcinomas with the MSI-H phenotype (Table 1) . In our series, 56.8% of the cases expressing MUC5AC are of the MSI-H phenotype, whereas only 22.2% of the cases with no expression of MUC5AC display the MSI-H phenotype (Table 1) . A similar association was observed between MUC5AC expression and the presence of instability for tetranucleotide STR markers (Table 2) . No relationship between MUC2 expression and the MSI-H phenotype or instability for tetranucleotide STR markers was observed in our series of gastric carcinoma (Tables 1 and 2) .

Together with the results of Biemer-Huttmann et al. (1) on colorectal cancer, our data on gastric cancer suggest that there is a consistent parallel between genetic instability and MUC5AC expression. This is particularly interesting in colorectal tumours because MUC5AC is not expressed in the normal colon mucosa. Further studies should be undertaken to clarify the mechanisms underlying the widespread association of MUC5AC and MSI in tumors of the digestive tract.

FOOTNOTES

¹ The abbreviation used is: MSI-H, high level(s) of microsatellite instability.

Received 7/27/00; accepted 9/12/00.

REFERENCES

1. Biemer-Huttmann A. E., Walsh M. D., McGuckin M. A., Simms L. A., Young J., Leggett B. A., Jass J. R. Mucin core protein expression in colorectal cancers with high levels of microsatellite instability indicates a novel pathway of morphogenesis. Clin. Cancer Res., 6: 1909-1916, 2000.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2. Jass J. R. Serrated adenoma and colorectal cancer. J. Pathol., 187: 499-502, 1999.[CrossRef][Medline]
3. Dos Santos, N. R., Seruca, R., Constância, M., Seixas, M., and Sobrinho-Simões, M. Microsatellite instability at multiple loci in gastric carcinoma: clinicopathologic implications and prognosis. Gastroenterology, 110: 38–44, 1996.
4. Reis C. A., David L., Nielsen P., Clausen H., Mirgorodskaya K., Roepstorff P., Sobrinho-Simões M. Immunohistochemical study of MUC5AC expression in human gastric carcinomas using a novel monoclonal antibody. Int. J. Cancer, 74: 112-121, 1997.[CrossRef][Medline]
5. Reis C. A., David L., Carvalho F., Mandel U., de Bolós C., Mirgorodskaya K., Clausen H., Sobrinho-Simões M. Immunohistochemical study of the expression of MUC6 mucin and coexpression of other secreted mucins (MUC5AC and MUC2) in human gastric carcinomas. J. Histochem. Cytochem., 48: 377-388, 2000.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
6. Silva F., Gusmão L., Alves C., Seruca R., David L., Amorim A. Tetra- and pentanucleotide short tandem repeat instability in gastric cancer. Electrophoresis, 18: 1633-1636, 1997.[Medline]

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