Elsevier

Human Pathology

Volume 31, Issue 1, January 2000, Pages 51-57
Human Pathology

Original Contribution
Morphometric analysis of the “mucocellular layer” overlying colorectal cancer and normal mucosa: Relevance to exfoliation and stool screening*,**

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0046-8177(00)80198-7Get rights and content

Characterization of shed cell elements entrapped within the colorectal surface mucus would be valuable to the study of exfoliation and candidate stool screening markers. Yet, surprisingly little is known about the cellular composition of this “mucocellular layer” (MCL). Our aim was to describe and compare the histomorphometry of the MCL that overlies colorectal cancer (CRC) and normal mucosa. From tissue archives, 20 resected CRC specimens yielding perpendicular cuts of both tumor surface and adjacent normal mucosa were consecutively selected. MCL thickness and cell number were determined in triplicate using an ocular micrometer. Cellular elements within the MCL were characterized on paraffin sections by immunohistochemistry. Mean cell density was much greater in the MCL over CRC (2,639 ± 2,178 per mm2) than over normal mucosa (184 ± 395 per mm2), P < .001. Robust-appearing colonocytes and inflammatory cells predominated in the hypercellular MCL of CRC; the former retained expression of tumor-associated antigens. In contrast, the sparsely scattered cells within the normal MCL were typically apoptotic and indeterminate lineage. Based on direct observations from this first descriptive study of the colorectal MCL, luminal shedding appears to be much greater from CRC than from normal mucosa.

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    *

    Supported in part by Grant #CA71680 from National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.

    **

    Presented in part at the annual meeting of the American Gastroenterological Association in New Orleans, LA, May 1998 (Gastroenterology 1998;114:A554).

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