Lysozyme, alpha 1-Antichymotrypsin and alpha 1-Antitrypsin were demonstrated by an immunoperoxidase technique (PAP) in malignant cells of adenocarcinomas of the stomach but not of the large intestine. Lymph-node metastases showed identical immunoreactivity to that of the primary tumour. Neoplasms arising from the cardia, the body and the pyloric antrum of the stomach showed different immunostaining reactions. It seems that these differences partly reflect the distribution of lysozyme, alpha 1-Antichymotrypsin and alpha 1-Antitrypsin in the normal gastric mucosa. The usefulness of our findings in the identification of the primary tumour in cases of lymph node metastases of unknown origin, is also discussed.
Alpha 1-antitrypsin has been examined in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded liver specimens from Greek patients with cirrhosis (35 cases) and hepatoma (55 cases) by peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) method. Ring-like AAT globules were found in the non-neoplastic cells in 12% of the cases of hepatoma and in 11% of the cases of cirrhosis. Atypical globules were seen in neoplastic cells in 5.4% of the cases of hepatoma and in 17% of the cases of liver cirrhosis. A diffuse fine granular pattern of AAT distribution was present in 31% of the cases of hepatoma in the neoplastic cells and in 27% of those in the non-neoplastic cells. The relatively high incidence of ring-like AAT-globules, and of atypical globules in cases of hepatoma and cirrhosis is not in agreement with the extremely low gene frequency of Z allele in a Greek population of patients with cirrhosis and hepatoma. Thus, there is some doubt whether AAT-globules in the liver represent a histopathologic marker of genetically determined AAT deficiency. A relationship between AAT deposits and the degree of differentiation of hepatoma was noted in this series. AAT-positive cells were found in 55% of moderately differentiated, in 29% of highly differentiated and in 20% of poorly differentiated hepatomas.
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