MUC5AC and gastric carcinoma: Intestinal metaplasia is one of the lesions that paves the way for the development of gastric carcinoma and according to previous studies, a distinct pattern of mucus expression associated with this precursor lesion was determined through histochemical and immunohistochemical techniques: the incomplete form is defined by coexpression of MUC5AC and MUC6 together with MUC2, while the complete form is associated with a strong expression of MUC2 along with little or no expression of MUC5AC and MUC6 [48].