Gene Cell Tissue. 2020 October; 7(4):e109725. Published online 2020 November 2. doi: 10.5812/gct.109725. Research Article Lectin Histochemical Detection of N-Acetyl Glucosamine and L-Fucose Containing glycoconjugates in Lung Carcinoma Abbas Ali Niazi 1 , Mohammad Hossein Heidari 2, * , Yousef Arab 3 , Maryam Arab 3 , Mohammad Reza Arab 4 , Narjes Sargolzaei 5 , Sima Tavakolinezhad 6 and Fereydoon Sargolzaeiaval 6 1 Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran 2 Proteomics Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 3 Ali Ebne Abitaleb Hospital, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran 4 Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Resistant Tuberculosis Institute, Department of Anatomical Sciences, School of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical sciences, Zahedan, Iran 5 Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran 6 Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran * Corresponding author: Department of Basic Sciences, School of Allied Medical Sciences and Proteomics Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Email: mh.heidari.sbmu@gmail.com Received 2020 September 26; Revised 2020 October 12; Accepted 2020 October 19. Abstract Background: Lung cancer has the highest frequency among cancers worldwide. It is the leading cause of cancer-induced death in industrialized countries. Abnormal glycosylation of cell surface and extracellular matrix glycoconjugates are among the most critical issues in neoplasia. Objectives: This present study aimed to detect N – acetyl glucosamine (GlcNac) and L- fucose (L-fuc) containing glycoconjugates in lung cancer. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we selected paraffin blocks belonging to 25 patients with lung cancer from their pathology files at the Ali-Ebne Abitaleb Hospital, Zahedan, Iran. Six μm sections were obtained from the blocks and stained with Hematoxylin- Eosin (H-E) and lectin histochemistry (UEA and SBA lectins). Alcian Blue pH 2.5 was used as a counterstain; lectins were diluted up to 10μg/ml, and DAB was used as a chromogen. Histochemical grading was conducted blindly according to staining intensity to lectins (0-3). The data was collected and analyzed by the Mann-Whitney U test, using SPSS. Results: Statistical analysis showed that there was a significant difference between inflammatory mucosa of the bronchial tree and all types of lung cancer (i.e., adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, as well as small and large cell lung carcinoma) according to staining intensity to SBA and UEA lectins (P < 0.001). Our results showed that there were many different patterns of reaction to SBA and UEA lectins between all types of lung cancer cells and epithelial cells of the bronchial tree. Conclusions: Staining intensity and pattern of reaction to lectins were different between all types of lung cancer cells and epithelial mucosa. Keywords: Lung Cancer, Histochemistry, Lectin 1. Background Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is the most frequent cancer worldwide, and the survival rate of five years is extremely low (15%) among the people who have this cancer (1). The incidence rate of lung cancer is 1.2 mil- lion people per year (2). Lung carcinoma is the most com- mon cause of cancer-related death, accounting for 25% of overall cancer deaths. Smoking is the most crucial lung cancer risk factor (3). In general, this malignancy can be categorized into Small Cell Lung Carcinoma (SCLC), Ade- nocarcinoma (ADC), Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC), and Large Cell Carcinoma (LCLC) (4). Lung carcinomas are a group of cancers arising from any part of the bronchial tree or pulmonary parenchyma. Thus, lung cancer is a het- erogeneous entity both in cell types and biological behav- ior of specific cell types (5). ADC arises from the glandular cells of the bronchial mucosa and represents the dominant histological subtype among the other lung cancer types. SCLC arises from the modified bronchial epithelial cells. SCLC is characterized by one of the following specific differentiation features: keratinization, keratin pearl formation, or the presence of intercellular bridges. LCLC is a heterogeneous group of undifferentiated malignant neoplasms that lack cyto- logic and architectural features of small cell carcinoma Copyright © 2020, Gene, Cell and Tissue. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits copy and redistribute the material just in noncommercial usages, provided the original work is properly cited.