Caveolin-1 immuno-expression in human gastric cancer: histopathogenetic hypotheses

The immunohistochemical expression of caveolin-1 (cav-1) was evaluated in a series of gastric carcinomas (GC) and in the adjacent normal gastric mucosa. Cav-1 immuno-expression was found in most GC (94%) with a significantly higher amount in the Lauren intestinal type in comparison to the diffuse-type carcinomas. Interestingly, gastric intestinal metaplasia as well as the cells at the base and neck of gastric pits within all fundic mucosal fragments showed an evident cav-1 immuno-staining, suggesting a histogenetic derivation of these lesions from the trans-differentiation of chief cells or from a cryptic progenitor population at the base of fundic glands, as recently hypothesized by other authors. The absence of significant correlations between cav-1 immuno-expression and the other clinico-pathological parameters, such as the stage of disease or the patients overall survival, indicates that the role of cav-1 in GC is neither stage-specific nor related to prognosis.