| Theme |
Pepsinogen -- Basic, Clinical Implications, and Epidemiology |
| Title |
Pathology of Pepsinogen Producing Cells |
| Author |
Masae Tatematsu |
Division of Oncological Pathology, Aichi Cancer Center Research Institute |
| [ Summary ] |
Intestinal metaplasia is divided into two types determined by mucin histochemistry and pepsinogen (Pg) immunohistochemistry. The two types are the gastric and intestinal mixed type and the solely intestinal type. Gastric cancer cells of each histologic type were clearly classified into the gastric epithelial type and the intestinal epithelial cell type. Phenotypic expression changes from gastric epithelial cell type to the intestinal epithelial cell type with the growth of gastric tumors in humans and experimental animals. These results suggest the independent induction of intestinal metaplasia in gastric mucosa and of cancer cells of the intestinal epithelial type in gastric cancers. In stead of intestinal metaplasia, pepsinogen 1 altered pyloric glands, which were thought to be preneoplastic changes, associated with gastric cancer. |