Oncofetal expression of glutathione S-transferase placental form in human stomach carcinomas

The content of glutathione S-transferase placental form (GST-pi) was immunohistochemically analyzed in 100 cases of human stomach carcinoma of various histological types and compared with the content in the stomach mucosa of the human fetus, infant and adult. High levels of GST-pi content were demonstrated in all stomach carcinomas except for signet ring cell carcinomas. High levels were also present in surface mucous cells and glandular cells of the stomach from a fetus aged 18 weeks, whereas only the parietal cells of fundic glands in the adult stomach showed slight staining for GST-pi. These results indicate that the phenotypic expression of GST-pi in human stomach carcinoma is oncofetal in character.