Binding of lectins to goblet cell mucin in malignant and premalignant colonic epithelium in the CF-1 mouse.

The lectin peanut agglutinin binds to mucin secreted by neoplastic but not normal human colonic epithelial cells. Peanut agglutinin was found to bind to mucin secreted by experimentally induced neoplasms in the distal colons of CF-1 mice, but not in the distal colons of control animals. Serial examination of colonic tissues after exposure to carcinogen has revealed the "cancer-associated" mucin in histologically normal but potentially premalignant epithelium. Thus, in the chemical carcinogen-rodent model, a diffuse alteration in glycoprotein structure is found in that part of the murine colon that subsequently develops cancer, and this precedes the appearance of neoplastic tissue. Changes in mucin structure may prove to be useful in the identification of premalignant gastrointestinal epithelium in certain humans at high risk for colon cancer.