p53, p16 and RB expression in adenosquamous and squamous cell carcinomas of the stomach

The expression of p53, p16 and RB proteins and their clinicopathologic correlation were investigated in 15 cases of primary gastric adenosquamous carcinoma and 2 cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the stomach. The male to female ratio of the patients was 13:4 and the average age was 55.7 years. None of the cases was early gastric carcinoma, and none of the adenocarcinoma components were of the diffuse or signet ring cell types. Fourteen cases showed metastasis to regional lymph nodes and/or other organs at the time of surgery. The adenocarcinoma component was metastasized to lymph nodes in 12 cases, and both adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma components were metastasized in three cases. The altered expression of p53 correlated with the advanced stage, but did not correlate with the depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis or recurrence. The altered expression of p16 and RB proteins did not correlate with any of the above clinico-pathologic factors. Both the adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma components revealed an inverse correlation between the expression pattern of p16 and RB proteins (p < 0.05). This suggests that the two proteins share a role in the carcinogenesis of these tumors. The expression pattern of p53 proteins in the adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma components was exactly the same in all of the cases. The expression patterns of p16 and RB protein were also identical in most of the cases. The expression patterns of all three proteins in the metastatic lesions were also identical to those in the primary lesions. The fact that the alteration of the three tumor suppressor gene products shares the same pattern suggests that squamous and adenocarcinoma components in the stomach originate from the same or a genetically related clone.