Gastric and intestinal phenotypic expression in 223 surgically obtained primary
gastric cancers and their histogenetic relationship to intestinal
metaplasia in the surrounding gastric mucosa were studied by
mucin histochemistry and
pepsinogen (Pg) immunohistochemistry. Histochemical differentiation of
mucins (paradoxical
concanavalin A, the
galactose oxidase-Schiff sequence and
sialidase-
galactose oxidase-Schiff) and immunohistochemical staining of Pgs I and II, allowed differentiation of
gastric cancer cells from different histological categories into gastric elements including mucous neck cells, pyloric gland cells and surface mucous cells or intestinal elements including goblet cell and intestinal absorptive cell types. Of 122 papillary and
tubular adenocarcinomas, 33 (27.1%) consisted mainly of gastric-type cells and 42 (34.4%) predominantly of intestinal-type cells. The remainder (38.5%) consisted of mixtures of gastric- and intestinal-type cells. Of 101 poorly differentiated
adenocarcinomas, signet ring cell
carcinomas and
mucinous adenocarcinomas, 59 (58.4%) consisted mainly of gastric-type cells and 20 (19.8%) mainly of intestinal-type cells. Seven out of 35 papillary and
tubular adenocarcinomas consisting mainly of gastric-type
cancer cells were surrounded by mucosa with intestinal
metaplasia. Conversely, 10 out of 40 papillary and
tubular adenocarcinomas consisting mainly of intestinal-type
cancer cells were observed in nonmetaplastic gastric mucosa. Thus no relationship as regards intestinal phenotypic expression was found between
gastric cancers and surrounding gastric mucosa.