Original Research Article
Year: 2014 | Month: January | Volume: 4 | Issue: 1 | Pages: 30-34
Histochemical Demonstration of Mucins in Urinary Bladder Cancer Lesions
Esam Mohamed Abdul-Raheem
Associate Professor of Pathology, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Al-Quwayiyah, Shaqra University, Saudia Arabia.
Corresponding Author: Esam Mohamed Abdul-Raheem
ABSTRACT
Study Design and Objective: This was a retrospective descriptive study aimed to identify and classify mucins in urinary bladder cancer lesions.
Material and Methods: Fifty paraffin-embedded formalin-fixed tissue blocks of urinary bladder cancer lesions were obtained from the archives of the histopathology departments at western Riyadh hospitals. Sections of 5μ –thickness from these blocks were put on slides and stained by five different histological techniques; Alcian blue (pH0.5, pH 1.0, and pH 2.5), PAS/colloidal iron technique, and Aldehyde fuchsin/alcian blue technique.
Results: Mucin was positive in all cancer lesions; carboxylated acid mucin was positive in 35 cases (70%), neutral mucin was positive in 26 cases (52%), strongly sulphated acid mucin was positive in 8 cases (16%), and weakly sulphated acid mucin was positive in only 7 cases (14%).
Conclusion: Histochemical demonstration of mucins in bladder cancer lesions can be considered an important technique for assessment of cancer prognosis.
Key words: mucin; bladder cancer.