O-acetylated sialic acid variants in intestinal glandular metaplasia of the urinary tract.

Two cases of chronic cystitis, two of chronic ureteritis, one of chronic pyelitis and two transitional cell carcinomas of the urinary tract showed glandular metaplasia or focal mucin production. Positive staining for O-acetylated sialic acid variants (sites 7 and 8) detected by the PB-KOH-PAS method was found in the two cases of cystitis, in one of chronic ureteritis and in one of chronic pyelitis. Positive staining was observed only in areas showing an intestinal type of metaplasia and in which goblet cells and argyrophil cells were also identified. These findings taken together with earlier studies on ovarian cystadenomas lead the authors to believe that O-acetylated variants are markers of an intestinal type of epithelium. Evaluation of O-acetylated sialomucins may be useful in further studies on the histogenesis of primary adenocarcinomas of the bladder.