Published online Dec 15, 1999. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v5.i6.488
Revised: September 2, 1999
Accepted: September 22, 1999
Published online: December 15, 1999
AIM: To investigate the activation, expression of c-src gene and its role in the carcinogenetic process of human cardia adenocarcinoma (CA).
METHODS: Fifty-six cases of CA, 34 cases of normal, 36 cases of protife rative epithelia adjacent to carcinoma, and 20 cases of lymph node metastases of CA were studied for PP60c-src, the expression product of c-src gene immunohistochemically by using the specific monoclonal antibody, Mab327.
RESULTS: The positive rates of PP60c-src in the normal ep ithelia, protiferative epithelia, CA and lymph node metastases were 29.4% (10/34), 94.4% (34/36), 71.4% (40/56) and 60.0% (12/20), respectively, among them, the differences of the positive rates were statistically significant ( P < 0.01). The expression levels of PP60c-src in CA and proliferative epithe lia were significantly higher than that in the normal epithelia (P < 0.01). The PP60c-src positive rates in the papillary, tubular, poorly differentiated and mucous adenocarcinoma were 75.0% (6/8), 81.8% (18/22), 50.0% (10/20) and 100.0% (6/6), respectively, whereas those of tubular and mucous adenocarcinomas were significantly higher than those of papillary and poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas (P < 0.05), and the PP60c-src expression levels of tubular and mucous adenocarcinomas were also significantly higher than those of papillary and poorly differentiated adenocarci nomas(P < 0.01).
CONCLUSION: The activation and expression of c-src gene are associated with the initiation and development of human CA; the protein amount of PP60c-src increased during the process of carcinogenesis; and PP60c-src expression is also related to lymph node metastases.