Prognostic significance of high expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen in patients with intestinal metaplasia
Blasco-Olaetxea, E.; Loizate, A.; Eizagirre, B.; Garcia-Tamayo, J.
Anticancer Research 16(2): 963-967
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0250-7005 PMID: 8687160 Document Number: 466226
Although some types of intestinal metaplasia are considered to be potentially pre-malignant lesions leading to gastric carcinoma, their high frequency and variability limit their usefulness as early markers of malignant progression. The present study was carried out to search for parameters which could be used in conjunction with histological diagnosis to identify groups of patients with a high risk for developing gastric neoplasia. The expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), as revealed by immunohistochemical staining of anti-PCNA monoclonal antibody (PC10) in 82 endoscopic biopsy specimens, was compared with the histological classification of intestinal metaplasia, the biochemical composition of gastric mucins and the expression of blood group Lewis antigens. Statistically significant (p 0.001) correlation between the PCNA labelling index (the percentage of positive cells in more than 700 tumor cells per sample) and the histological type of intestinal metaplasia, the presence of sulphomucins, and the presence of anomalous Lewis a antigen was found. We conclude that a high PCNA-labelling index in the gastric mucosa, with a histological diagnosis of incomplete intestinal metaplasia, could constitute a good prognostic marker of the severity of the histologic lesion. These parameters, together with others such as the presence of sulphomucins and of cells expressing anomalous Lewis a antigen, may be used to define patients with a high risk of developing a gastric neoplasia.