Pattern of MUC6 expression across 119 different tumor types: A tissue microarray study on 15,412 tumors

ucjournals March 2, 2024

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Presented in 13th Emirates Pathology, Digital Pathology & Cancer Conference Holiday Inn Dubai, UAE & Virtual
Poster Presenter Name: Dr. Sebastian Dwertmann Rico (Germany)
Global Journal of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Unified Citation Journals, Pathology 2024, ISSN 2754-0952
Biography: Institute of Pathology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
Keywords: MUC6, tissue microarray, immunohistochemistry, cancer, diagnostic

Sebastian Dwertmann Rico¹, Sebastian J A Schliesser¹, Natalia Gorbokon¹, David Dum¹, Anne Menz¹, Franziska Büscheck¹, Andrea Hinsch¹, Maximilian Lennartz¹, Andreas M Luebke¹, Christoph Fraune¹, Patrick Lebok¹, Till S Clauditz¹, Frank Jacobsen¹, Guido Sauter¹, Ria Uhlig¹, Stefan Steurer¹, Sarah Minner¹, Andreas H Marx², Ronald Simon¹, Eike Burandt¹, Doris Hoeflmayer¹, Till Krech^1,3, and Christian Bernreuther¹

¹Institute of Pathology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
²Department of Pathology, Academic Hospital Fuerth, Fuerth Germany,
³Institute of Pathology, Clinical Center Osnabrueck, Osnabrueck, Germany
Abstract:
Mucin 6 (MUC6) is a secreted gel-forming mucin covering the surfaces of gastrointestinal and other tissues. Published work demonstrates that MUC6 can also be expressed in several cancer types and can aid in the distinction of different tumor entities. To systematically analyze MUC6 expression in normal and cancerous tissues, a tissue microarray containing 15,412 samples from 119 different tumor types and subtypes as well as 608 samples of 76 different normal tissue types was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. At least a weak MUC6 positivity was seen in 50 of 119 (42%) tumor entities. 33 tumor entities included tumors with strong positivity. MUC6 immunostaining was most frequent in mucinous carcinomas of the breast (44%), adenocarcinomas of the stomach (30-40%) and esophagus (35%), and neuroendocrine carcinomas of the colon. Strong MUC6 staining was linked to advanced pT stage (p=0.0464), defective MMR status and right-sided tumor location (p<0.0001 each) in colorectal cancer, as well as to high tumor grade (p=0.0291), nodal metastasis (p=0.0485), HER2 positivity (p<0.0001) and negative ER (p=0.0332) / PR (p=0.0257) status in breast carcinomas of no special type. The results of this study show that MUC6 is expressed in a broad range of different tumor entities. Given that the rate of MUC6 positivity does not exceed 40% in any tumor entity, MUC6 expression analysis is not suited for the distinction of tumors of different sites of origin.

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