Glycosaminoglycans in lung carcinoma

In order to better understand the chemical composition of carcinomas of the lung, glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) of lung tumors from 34 patients were studied histochemically and quantitated spectrophotometrically. When the GAG quantity in neoplastic tissue was compared with that in normal lung tissue, total GAG contents in various carcinomas of the lung ranged from 1.3 to 4 times the control. There were highly significant differences in the fractions of GAGs between the Clara cell type and the poorly differentiated types of adenocarcinomas. Mucus-producing adenocarcinoma of the goblet cell and the bronchial gland cell types, which histochemically showed abundant glycoprotein in epithelial cells, contained 74% of GAGs as hyaluronic acid. These results suggest that there seems to be a relationship between the composition of GAGs and the subtype and degree of differentiation of various lung carcinomas.