Objective: To study the property of transitional mucosa (TM) adjacent to rectal carcinoma and the clinical significance of MTS1 gene deficit.
Methods: We used the immunohistochemical methods to observe the range of TM adjacent to rectal carcinoma, and the immunohistochemical method to observe the expression of MTS1 gene product on TM, using normal mucosa and carcinoma tissue as control.
Results: The positive expression level of MTS1 gene product was the highest in the normal rectal mucosa, gradually defective in TM and carcinoma tissue (P < 0.05). The range of TM with MTS1 negative cases was prominently larger than that with MTS1 positive cases (P < 0.05).
Conclusions: The inactivation of MTS1 gene is relative to the occurrence of rectal carcinoma, suggesting that the TM adjacent to rectal carcinoma possess as certain potential malignancy. TM is related to MTS1 gene expression deficit of rectal carcinoma, showing that MTS1 gene expression deficit or mutation may be a factor inducing transitional change adjacent to carcinoma.