Relationship between expression of laminin and pathological features in human colorectal carcinoma

AIM:To study the expression and significance of laminin in human colorectal carcinoma.METHODS:Using the monoclonal antibody to laminin and streptavidin-peroxidase immunohistochemical method, the expression of laminin in 63 cases of human colorectal carcinoma tissues was determined.RESULTS:In normal marge intestinal mucosa adjacent to carcinoma, laminin was largely restricted to basement membrane in continuous linear pattern. In contrast, human colorectal carcinomas exhibited a progressive loss of an intact basement membrane that was correlated with decreasing differentiation degree.Well and moderately differentiated tumors exhibited a thin basement membrane with intermittent disruptions, and poorly differentiated tumors exhibited no areas of intact basement membrane. An association was found between lack of basement membrane laminin immunohistochemical staining in colorectal carcinoma and poorly differentiated tumor (P < 0.01).CONCLUSION:Immunohistochemical staining for laminin could provide a very useful indexfor the determination of the differentiation degree of colorectal carcinoma.