"Mucin types" in normal and neoplastic colonic goblet cells: a mucin histochemical study

Goblet cells in normal colon mucosa from 100 individuals histochemically showed two major "mucin types" in sialic acid composition. One type revealed mixed reactivities for N-acetyl-neuraminic acid (NANA, abbreviated C0), 7-O- acylated NANA (C7) and 9-O-acylated NANA (C9), and represented 25% of the individuals examined. The other type of mucin, seen in 69% of the cases, exhibited reactivity for 8-O-acylated NANA or pluri-O-acylated NANA (C8). C0 and C8 were observed simultaneously in 5% of the individuals. In addition, 8% displayed a mosaic pattern in which isolated "blue" crypts containing sialic acids of the C0 + C7 + C9 type were detected in the "red" colonic mucosa, which was predominantly C8. Little correlation was found between the mucin types and their site in the colon, or with the age, sex, ABO blood groups and degree of sulphation. O-acylated NANA was also observed, though reduced in amount, in all 22 colonic adenocarcinomas in which evaluable numbers of neoplastic goblet cells were found. The mucin types in colon cancer were fundamentally indistinguishable from those seen in the surrounding noncancerous colonic mucosa.