MUC gene expression and histogenesis of adenocarcinoma of the stomach

✍ Scribed by Shizuki Tsukashita; Ryoji Kushima; Masamichi Bamba; Hiroyuki Sugihara; Takanori Hattori

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: French
• Weight: 644 KB
• Volume: 94
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0020-7136
• DOI: 10.1002/ijc.1460

✦ Synopsis

To elucidate the histogenesis of adenocarcinomas of the stomach, we examined MUC gene expression in gland-forming intramucosal neoplastic lesions. Eighty tumors were histopathologically assigned to 1 of the following 3 groups based upon the Vienna classification: group A (low-grade adenoma/ dysplasia), group B (high-grade adenoma/dysplasia) and group C (intramucosal carcinoma). Immunohistochemic staining was performed with monoclonal antibodies against MUC2 (goblet cell mucin), MUC5AC (gastric-foveolar mucin), MUC6 (pyloric-gland mucin) and CD10 (brush border). Ki-67 staining was also carried out. An obvious difference existed in MUC gene expression between lesions in group A and those in groups B and C. The majority of group A lesions strongly expressed intestinal markers in which proliferating cell zones were formed but generally expressed no gastric markers, whereas more than 50% of groups B and C tumors expressed gastric markers. These findings suggest that group A lesions are of a stable intestinal phenotype, whereas those in groups B and C are phenotypically and genotypically unstable, indicating that the adenoma-carcinoma sequence is not a major pathway, but instead that adenocarcinomas arise de novo.