Gastric M1 mucin has been defined by several monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) as an early marker of human 1,2 and rat 3 colonic carcinogenesis. The gastric M1 mucin and MUC5AC gene have been detected in the human precancerous colonic 4 -7 and pancreatic 8 -10 epithelium using immunohistology and in situ hybridization, respectively. In pancreatic fluids removed using fine-needle aspiration under computerized scan control, an immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) of M1 mucin 11 improves the diagnosis of mucinous cystadenomas, a precancerous lesion for which surgery was suggested. 10 On the other hand, the early expression of this M1 mucin during colonic carcinogenesis could give excellent tools (i) for a better understanding of the early events associated with precancerous stages, (ii) for detecting patients with high a risk of developing colonic and pancreatic cancers and (iii) for studying the protective effect of drugs on the progression of colonic carcinogenesis. 12 Consequently, a better understanding of the biochemical nature of the M1 epitopes will be of invaluable help in this process.Eight anti-gastric M1 mucin MAbs were selected using immunohistology on gastrointestinal mucosae fixed with ethanol. These MAbs immunoreact against mucus cells of normal surface gastric mucosae, colonic adenomas and macroscopically normal colonic mucosae adjacent to adenocarcinomas but not against normal colon. 4,5 Among the 8 MAbs against gastric M1 mucin described up to now, 2 of them 19M1 and 21M1, which recognized the same or neighboring epitopes, 5 immunoreacted against a recombinant protein encoded by the 3Ј region of the MUC5AC gene 13 when expressed in a baculovirus/insect cell system. During the selection of hybridoma cells secreting anti-gastric mucin MAbs, we have also isolated 3 other MAbs (463M, 589M and 62M) 5,14 staining mucins from mucus cells of surface gastric epithelium and goblet cells of colonic adenomas but with patterns different from those observed using the other anti-M1 MAbs. Consequently, these 3 MAbs were not classified as "anti-M1 antibodies." In our study, using transfection of small fragments of the 3Ј region of the MUC5AC cDNA into COS-7 cells, we have mapped 2 new mucin epitopes within the already known M1-f epitope (MAbs 19/ 21M1) 5 on the C-terminal region encoded by the MUC5AC gene. We determined the smallest cDNA fragment that encoded a peptide corresponding to each epitope. We then compared the immunohistologic pattern in normal gastrointestinal tract and colonic tumors (hyperplastic polyps, adenomas and mucosae adjacent to adenocarcinomas) of the 2 new mucin epitopes with that of the M1-f epitope.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Mucin antigensHuman gastric M1 mucin preparation. Mucin was isolated from mucinous ovarian cyst liquids or by scraping human gastric mucosa and purified using CsCl gradient and Sepharose chromatography, as already described. 11 Recombinant MUC5AC mucins. Two fusion proteins containing the secretory alkaline phosphatase (SeAP) at its N-terminal end and MUC5AC cDNAs 3Ј-coding sequence a...