Expression of MUC1 recognized by monoclonal antibody MY.1E12 is a useful biomarker for tumor aggressiveness of advanced colon carcinoma.

To address the need for new prognostic parameters in advanced colon carcinoma that could add insights into the aggressiveness of tumors, the expression levels of MUC1 recognized by a monoclonal antibody (mAb) MY.1E12 in archival specimens from 123 Japanese patients with colon carcinomas were evaluated by immunohistochemistry to correlate the results with clinicopathological characteristics. The localization of mAb MY.1E12-reactive-MUC1 (MY.1E12-MUC1) was classified into apical, cytoplasmic and stromal types based on the predominant cellular distribution. The MUC1 mRNA levels revealed by in situ hybridization were not a determinant for the localization types of MY.1E12-MUC1. Immunostaining of MY.1E12-MUC1 was recognized in the cancerous epithelia of pT1 carcinoma in 61%, pT2 in 78%, pT3 in 98% and pT4 in 90% of the cases at the deepest invading sites. At the deepest invading sites, apical-type localization was found to predominate in pT1 carcinoma, but stromal-type localization was found to increase in pT2-4 carcinomas in parallel with the depth of invasion. The frequency of synchronous distant organ metastasis at the time of diagnosis tended to be higher in cases of pT3 and pT4 carcinomas in the stromal-type localization-dominant group than in cases in the apical-type localization-dominant group. The post-surgical survival outcome of cases of pT3 and pT4 carcinomas was significantly poorer in the former than in the latter (P = 0.002). The stromal-type localization of MY.1E12-MUC1 may be a phenotype serving as a unique biological feature associated with the tumor aggressiveness of advanced colon carcinoma.