Demonstration of Deoxyribonucleic Acid in Colorectal Cancer Using Feulgen reaction

Background: Colorectal carcinoma is the second most common malignancy among Saudis. Cells derived from many hu- man malignant tissues have altered chromatin content and structure. The cellular Feulgen DNA content of malignant tissues is typically altered. Here we investigate the relationship between nuclear DNA content in colorectal carcinoma. Objectives: To demonstrate DNA in colorectal cancer cells using Feulgen reaction, and to determine the association between colon cancer grade and cellular DNA content. Design: Retrospective. Settings: Taif city- King Abdul Aziz specialized hospital. Patients and methods: Sections were stained with the Hematoxylin and Eosin method and the Feulgen reaction method for DNA demonstration. Sample size: Paraffin sections from 50 patients previously diagnosed with colon cancer were included in this study. Results: The histopathological diagnosis showed that 82% were adenocarcinoma cases, 18% had benign tumors. Regarding cancer grading, 56% of cases had moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma, 18% had low differentiated adenocarcinoma, 6% had high differentiated adenocarcinoma, and 2% had poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. The staining intensity of the Feulgen reaction showed that 46% of tissue sections had intense staining, 22% had medium staining, and 14% had results comparable to control staining. We detected no significant associations between the cancer grade and age group, gender, or result of Feulgen reaction. Conclusion: DNA demonstration using the Feulgen reaction is a simple and successfully estimated in this study. However, the correlations between DNA staining and several clinicopathological factors were not statistically significant. We recommend that DNA staining should be combined with routine histopathological examination for better understanding of patients’ clinical malignant potential of the colorectal cancer.