Differential expression of mast cell granules in samples of metastatic and non-metastatic colorectal cancer in patients

•There are no previous comparisons of mast cells populations in metastatic and non-metastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma.•This study employed a combination of techniques for the differentiation of granules into mast cells in metastatic and non-metastatic groups.•This study for the first time evaluated the immunolabeling expression of Tryptase and Chymase in metastatic and non-metastatic groups.•Differences between granulated and degranulated cells were demonstrated in both study groups. Various cell types participate in the tumor process, in which the mast cells have been described; however, the role they play in colorectal adenocarcinoma has not yet been fully understood. Therefore, the present work aimed to compare employing histochemistry and immunohistochemistry, the number of mast cells and the content of some cytoplasmic granules in moderately differentiated non-metastatic and metastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma, analyzing tissue samples from patients. Histochemical techniques with Toluidine Blue (TBO), Periodic Schiff Acid (PAS), Alcian Blue/Periodic Acid-Schiff (PAB) and Alcian Blue/Safranin (ABS); as well as immunohistochemical reactions with anti-antibodies anti-Tryptase and anti-Chymase were applied to quantify total mast cells and content of some cytoplasmic granules. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS V22.0 software (p ≤ 0.05). The degree of positivity of the reaction and degranulation of mast cells was reported in percentages. In our results, we observed that there are differences in the quantity and histochemical composition of the granules of mast cells (metastatic group PAS and ABS comparing the TBO reaction), as well as in the immunohistochemical composition between Tryptase and Chymase and the number of degranulated cells in both study groups (74 % degranulated mast cells in the metastatic group, 66 % integrate mast cells in the non-metastatic group). Therefore, we consider that the differences may be some of the probable factors that lead to metastasis of colorectal adenocarcinoma.