Metallothionein (MT) is a small thiol-rich metalloprotein with antioxidant properties, involved in tumour pathophysiology and therapy resistance. In order to assess the contribution of MT in gastrointestinal carcinogenesis, this study examined both the MT content by radioimmunoassay and the MT localization by immunohistochemistry in pairs of neoplastic and normal-appearing human gastrointestinal tissues. In addition, the relationship between MT expression and major clinicopathological parameters was assessed. The MT concentration of gastric carcinomas and of colorectal adenomas, carcinomas, and liver metastases was found to be significantly lower than that of corresponding normal-appearing tissue. A relatively high MT content, however, was found to be associated with the villous character of colorectal adenomas and with the Dukes' stage of colorectal carcinomas, indicating a relationship between MT level and malignant potential. Immunohistochemical evaluation showed a fairly good correlation with these quantitative data. MT was found to be expressed at a low level and in a patchy pattern in the gastrointestinal neoplastic and metastatic tissues, whereas in normal-appearing gastrointestinal mucosa MT was uniformly distributed in the cytoplasm and/or nucleus of apical cells. Although in the gastric cancer patients no association was found between the MT concentration and the clinicopathological parameters, the strong MT expression in areas with intestinal metaplasia, known to have neoplastic potential, further points to a relationship between this antioxidant metalloprotein and the malignant character of cells. Gastrointestinal neoplasms are apparently accompanied by a low level and decreased expression of MT, but those with a relatively high level seem to have an increased malignant potential. Further studies will be required to determine the clinical relevance of these observations.

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