15072 Background: Local and metastatic recurrence are frequent events in colorectal cancer. Certain indicators such as glycoproteins and carbohydrate antigens in primary tumors may be useful for early detection of disease dissemination. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the expression of mucins and carbohydrates associated antigens in normal, benign and malignant colorectal tissue samples. Methods: Immunohistochemical analysis was performed on 114 colorectal carcinoma samples, 22 adenomas and 35 normal colorectal mucosa specimens. Different monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were studied: anti-MUC2 mucin (PMH1), MUC1 (CT2 and HMFG2) and anti-alpha 1 glycoprotein (AGP). We also analyzed carbohydrate antigens such as Lewis x (KM380), sialyl Lewis x (KM93), Lewis y (C14) and sialyl Lewis a. Immunohistochemistry was performed following standard procedures with antigenic retrieval. A multivariate statistical analysis with Principal Component (PCA) and Kendall-tau correlation was applied. Results: Malignant s...