Differential mucin phenotypes and their significance in a variation of colorectal carcinoma

Figure 1 Expression of mucin 2 and mucin 5AC in colorectal carcinomas. A: Mucin (MUC)2 expression in normal colonic mucosa; B: MUC2 expression in cancer: level 0; C: MUC2 expression in cancer: level 4; D: MUC5AC expression in normal colonic mucosa; E: MUC5AC expression in cancer: level 1; F: MUC5AC expression in cancer: level 4 (immunohistochemical staining, × 10).

Figure 2 Colorectal carcinoma overall survival curves generated by the Kaplan-Meier method. WMDA: Well-to-moderately differentiated adeno-carcinoma; PDA: Poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma; MUA: Mucinous adenocarcinoma; SRCC: Signet-ring cell carcinoma.

Figure 3 Expression profiles of mucin 2 and mucin 5AC in each colorectal carcinoma histological subtype. Each closed circle indicates one tumor. MUC: Mucin; WMDA: Well-to-moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma; PDA: Poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma; MUA: Mucinous adenocarcinoma; SRCC: Signet-ring cell carcinoma.

Figure 4 Survival curves. A-D: Well-to-moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma (WMDA); E-H: Poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma (PDA); I and J: Mucinous adenocarcinoma (MUA). A: Recurrence/metastasis-free; B: Overall survival curves with or without mucin (MUC) 2 expression of WMDA; C: Recurrence/metastasis-free; D: Overall survival curves with or without MUC5AC expression; E: Recurrence/metastasis-free; F: Overall survival curves with or without MUC2 expression; G: Recurrence/metastasis-free; H: Overall survival curves with or without MUC5AC expression; I: Recurrence/metastasis-free; J: Overall survival curves with or without MUC5AC expression. Curves were generated using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared by log-rank tests. P values were derived from comparing mucin-negative and -positive tumors.