In tissue specimens of pancreatic cancer, overexpression of MUC1 (membrane-bound pan-epithelial mucin) and MUC6 (gastric pyloric gland-type secretory mucin) and the de novo expression of MUC5AC (gastric surface secretory-type mucin) have been observed as early events in pancreatic carcinogenesis in all stages of PanIN and invasive ductal adenocarcinomas, whereas goblet cell metaplasia with associated MUC2 (intestinal-type secretory mucin) expression was an extremely rare event in most of the studies. Here, MUC5AC is linked to familial pancreatic carcinoma.