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Updated: Jul 14, 2026

Identification of Intracellular Signaling Events Induced in Viable Cells by Interaction with Neighboring Cells Undergoing Apoptotic Cell Death
Published on: December 27, 2016
Apoptotic cell death and its relationship to gastric carcinogenesis
Ferda Bir1, Nese Calli-Demirkan, A Cevik Tufan
1Pamukkale Universitesi Tip Fakultesi, Patoloji ABD, Morfoloji, Kinikli 20070, Denizli, Turkey. fbir@pamukkale.edu.tr
Aim:
To investigate the apoptotic process of cells within the intestinal metaplasia areas co-localizing with chronic gastritis and gastric carcinomas and to analyze the involvement of proteins regulating apoptosis in the process of intestinal metaplasia related gastric carcinogenesis.
Methods:
Forty-two gastric carcinoma and seventeen chronic gastritis cases were included in this study. All cases were examined for the existence of intestinal metaplasia. Ten cases randomly selected from each group were processed for TUNEL assay. TUNEL positive cells within the intestinal metaplasia areas, co-localizing either to gastric carcinoma or chronic gastritis, were counted and converted to apoptotic indices. In addition, p53, bcl-2 and bax expression patterns within these tissues were analyzed on the basis of immunohistochemistry.
Results:
Twenty-eight of the cases were intestinal and 14 of the cases were diffuse type adenocarcinomas. 64% (27/42) of the gastric carcinoma cases had intestinal metaplasia. Intestinal metaplasia co-localized more with intestinal type carcinomas compared with diffuse type carcinomas [75% (21/28) vs 42% (6/14), respectively; P
Conclusion:
Existence of apoptotic cells on the basis of TUNEL positivity is shown in intestinal metaplasias co-localizing to both diffuse and intestinal type gastric cancers in this study. Our results also suggested bax expression dependent induction of apoptosis especially in intestinal metaplasia areas adjacent to tumors. These findings strongly support the involvement of apoptotic mechanisms in the process of gastric carcinogenesis especially in the transition from intestinal metaplasia to gastric cancer. It may be suggested that induction of apoptosis in intestinal metaplasia areas adjacent to tumors may involve different mechanisms than induction by chronic inflammation.
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