Immunohistochemical quantification of inflammation associated with gastric adenocarcinomas

Tumor heterogeneity and the multitude of mechanisms involved in the progression of gastric adenocarcinomas (GACs) are reflected in the incidence and mortality rates, which continue to be a problem in oncological pathology. The way in which immune inflammatory elements intervene in the modeling of the tumor environment and influence gastric carcinogenesis is insufficiently known. The study investigated the intratumoral and peritumoral distribution and density of T- and B-lymphocytes and macrophages in 54 cases of GAC in relation to the histological prognostic parameters of the tumors. Discohesive, mixed and tubular adenocarcinomas presented the highest value of cluster of differentiation (CD)45RO reactions in the tumor compartments. In the case of GAC with associated histological aggressiveness parameters, we found higher values of CD20 and CD68 reactions at the intratumoral level, and of CD45RO peritumorally, which suggests different immune immunophenotypes not only in relation to the tumor type, grade and stage, but also to the two compartments. These observations may be useful for establishing criteria for approaching and interfering with immune mechanisms in gastric carcinogenesis, which may improve patient prognosis.