Association of alterations in mucin expression in the transition zone with the histological grade of colorectal carcinoma

Background: worldwide colorectal cancer accounts for 9.7% of all incident cancers. despite the increase in incidence in colorectal carcinoma in developed and developing world,mortality in both sexes has slowly declined,due to early diagnosis. overtime there has been devised a number of clinical and morphological parameters and one of these histological features of colorectal carcinoma with a significant impact on screening,early diagnosis and prognosis is alterations in mucin expression. methods: a total of 50 cases of crc were selected. the present study was done to evaluate the association of alterations of mucin that is from sulphomucin to sialomucin with the histological grade. the specimens were fixed in formalin,embedded in paraffin and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. the special stains for the mucins were mucicarmine,pas alcian blue,hid. results: out of the 50 cases 34 cases including the mucinous and signet cell carcinomas were evaluated for mucin histochemistry. out of these 34 cases 26 cases showed an alteration in the mucin expression which was directly proportional to the advancing grade of the tumor showing a significant p - value. conclusion: our study proved the predominance of sialomucin with poor histological grade.