【総説】前立腺および前立腺癌における粘液形質

Abstract

Mucus production in prostatic glands and prostate cancers is a relatively rare phenotype that is confirmed by goblet cell metaplasia and mucus staining. Mouse carcinogenesis models suggest that the mucin phenotype is in the noncanonical pathway and possesses a higher potential for malignancy.We found 16 mucin-positive cases in 98 human prostate cancers.There was no difference in Gleason score，vascular invasion，or perineural invasion among them. In contrast，the mucin-positive cases showed more pronounced tumor extension and higher nuclear atypia than the negative cases. In addition，pre-cancerous PIN lesions were observed in the mucin-negative cases but not in any of the positive cases. The goblet cell metaplasia in nonneoplastic prostatic glands is noteworthy as a possible precancerous status in a noncanonical carcinogenic pathway.