Recent developments in mucin histochemistry and immunohistochemistry have made reliable determination of the gastric and intestinal phenotypes of gastric carcinoma cells possible. Phenotypic expression changes from gastric epithelial cell type to intestinal epithelial cell type with the growth of gastric tumours in experimental animals. We studied cell differentiation in gastric signet ring cell carcinomas with progression in 203 surgically obtained specimens. The results showed that the proportion of gastric phenotype carcinomas, in which over 90% of the tissue consists of gastric epithelial cell type cells, decreases with the depth of invasion. The proportion of mixed phenotype carcinomas (between 10% and 90% of the tissue made up of gastric and/or intestinal epithelial cell type cells) increases. The intestinal phenotype (over 90% intestinal epithelial cell type carcinoma cells) was found in four carcinomas (about 2%) involving the serosa. No clear relationship was evident between phenotypic expression of carcinoma cells and the degree of intestinal metaplasia of the surrounding mucosa. Progression of gastric signet ring cell carcinomas is associated with a phenotypic shift from gastric to intestinal type expression.
The expression of sialosyl-Tn (STn) antigen was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in primary gastric cancers. Twenty-one of 31 (68%) gastric cancers expressed STn, regardless of tumour location, stage or histological type. Eighty-one per cent of patients with STn-positive tumours died of their disease or had recurrent cancer, compared with 20% of patients with STn-negative tumours (P < 0.002). STn may be a useful prognostic marker in patients with gastric cancer.
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A series of experiments was devised to determine possible modifying effects of stress, aspirin, and sodium taurocholate on the activity of N‐methyl‐N′‐nitro‐N‐nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) in the Buffalo rat stomach. MNNG is a well known, direct‐reacting carcinogen, and has been a reliable agent for the experimental production of gastric adenocarcinoma. The authors were able to produce adenocarcinomas in rats, but found a great number of gastric leiomyosarcomas. These occurred only in the groups given MNNG in combination with stress, aspirin, or sodium taurocholate, and did not occur in experimental groups given either MNNG, stress, aspirin, or sodium taurocholate alone, and did not occur in the control group. Cancer 53:1088‐1092, 1984.
In rat colon cancer cells, both endogenous and constitutive expression of TFF3 correlates with an aggressive phenotype. These data provide direct evidence that TFF3 contributes to the malignant behavior of cancer cells.
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