[Immunohistochemical study of fibronectin and laminin on gastric cancer]

Frozen samples of normal gastric tissue (n = 80), gastric adenocarcinoma (n = 80), lymphnode metastases (n = 17) and liver metastases (n = 2) were investigated immunohistochemically for determination of fibronectin (FN) and laminin (LM). On monoclonal antibody, FN was seen in the gland basement membrane, scattered tissue and the vessel basement membrane in normal gastric tissue. On polyclonal antibody, FN was seen in the gland surface cells, the stomach gland cells and some portions of muscle fiber cells in normal gastric tissue, too. On both monoclonal and polyclonal antibody, LM was seen in the gland basement membrane, the vessel basement membrane, the vessel endothelial cells, and the fibroblast in normal gastric tissue. But on polyclonal antibody, LM staining in gland basement membrane was thicker than monoclonal antibody. These demonstrated that the monoclonal antibody was superior to the polyclonal antibody in specificity. In gastric adenocarcinoma, FN was not seen in the carcinoma gland basement membrane but in the tissue around the carcinoma. These suggested that FN had a share in the malignant transformation and the fibrous tissue formation. LM was seen in the carcinoma gland basement membrane in eighteen of thirty-six well-differentiated adenocarcinomas and two of fourteen moderately-differentiated adenocarcinomas. Well-differentiated adenocarcinoma were divided into two groups; a LM-positive group, and LM-negative group. These two groups were then compared for vein eroding, and lymph-node metastases, and the differences between the two groups found to be slight and not significant.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)