[Binding of peanut agglutinin (PNA) and Dolichos biflorus agglutinin (DBA) to human colonic carcinomas, adenomas, and polyps: histochemical staining by the lectin-antilectin-PEP method].

Binding of 2 lectins--peanut agglutinin (PNA) and Dolichos biflorus agglutinin (DBA)--with human colonic carcinomas, adenomas, juvenile and hyperplastic polyps, and polyps in Cronkhite-Canada syndrome was examined histochemically by the lectin-antilectin-PAP method. With PNA, brush borders of the carcinoma cell were stained(90.9%), while the cytoplasm of the adenomas and polyps were stained granularly (88.0%). With DBA, the cytoplasm of the carcinomas was stained diffusely (72.7%), though 25% of the cases showed the fringed type cytoplasmic staining similar to adenomas, polyps and normal crypts. It appears important to recognize the differences in the staining patterns, especially in PNA, between carcinomas and other benign lesions, which apparently reflect changes of sugar residues during cancerization.