Simultaneous demonstration of keratin and mucin.

Abstract

Antisera raised to keratin extracts of human callus have been used recently to demonstrate keratins in normal ( Krepler et al. , I 980; Schlegel et al., l980a1 and neoplastic tissues (Schlegel et al., I980h). In the normal bronchial mucosa both basal and intermediate cells contain keratin-like immunoreactive material (Schlegel et al., 1980a). In the majority ofcases, keratin or tonofilaments can be accepted as evidence of epidermoid differentiation (McDowell et al., 1980). Recent detailed ultrastructural studies of the normal, dysplastic and neoplastic bronchus (McDowell et al., 1980) have identified cells expressing both secretory and epidermoid phenotypes, with the suggestion that many lung tumors have evidence of both glandular and epidermoid differentiation not detectable at the light microscope level. A method has been developed for the simultaneous demonstration of both mucins and keratins at the light microscope level that permits the identification of cells in normal and malignant tissues containing elements ofhoth differentiation pathways. The method is of potential use to follow the sequential stages of pre-neoplasia in the human bronchial tree, and to demonstrate the lability of cellular phenotypes in normal and neoplastic tissues.