Throughout the world Colorectal cancer is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. It is the most common cancer and the fourth most frequent cause of cancer death worldwide. The annual incidence rates (AARs) for colon cancer and rectal cancer in India in men are 4.4 and 4.1 per 100000, respectively.MUC1 is normally expressed on the apical borders of various glandular and luminal epithelial cells. MUC1 represents the best characterized membrane-associated mucin. The expression of MUC1 is up-regulated in Colorectal cancer. MUC2 is expressed by intestinal goblet cells. The expression of MUC2 is down-regulated in non-mucinous adenocarcinomas arising within adenomas.

 

A descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted in Department of Pathology, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, Swami Ram Nagar, Dehradun on 30 surgical specimens and biopsies of Colorectal adenocarcinoma after signed informed consent of patients. Immunohistochemical expression of MUC1 and MUC2 were studied. Results: Maximum number of the cases were in fifth decade with male to female ratio of 0.8:1. The most common presenting complaint among the cases of CRC was pain in abdomen (n=26 ; 86.66%) followed by rectal bleeding (n=18 ; 60%), constipation (n=11 ; 36.66%) and weight loss (n=10 ; 33.33%). Maximum number of CRC cases (60%) were in T3N0 TNM stage. Both MUC1 and MUC2 overexpression was observed in 50% of the cases. 30% of the cases expressed only MUC1 while 13.3% of the cases expressed only MUC2.

 

Expression of MUC1 was more than MUC2 in CRC cases. Although data obtained in the present study on prognostic importance of MUC1 and MUC2 is not statistically significant, yet both MUC1 & MUC2 were overexpressed in CRC.

 

Colorectal carcinoma (CRC), MUC1, MUC2.