Infiltration of S-100 protein positive dendritic cells and peritoneal recurrence in advanced gastric cancer

We investigated the influence of the infiltration of S-100 protein positive dendritic cells on peritoneal recurrence of carcinoma in 113 patients who had undergone curative resection for gastric carcinoma invading beyond the muscularis propria. The infiltration of dendritic cells was classified into marked and slight. In patients with marked infiltration, peritoneal recurrences were rare, the rate being 5.6%, with a statistical difference compared to the rate of 20.3% with slight infiltration (p < 0.05). When patients were classified into infiltrative and expanding types with regard to the mode of invasion, patients with a marked infiltration survived longer than did those with slight infiltration in the infiltrative type carcinoma (p < 0.01). Such relationship was also observed when width of the serosal invasion was less than 4 cm in diameter (p < 0.01). Analysis of the pattern of recurrence revealed that infiltration of dendritic cells may prevent peritoneal recurrences in patients with advanced gastric cancer which has infiltrative mode of invasion.