Abstract
The majority of studies examining the role of TGF-β in gastric carcinoma have focused on scirrhous carcinoma. We therefore undertook a retrospective immunohistochemical study of gastric carcinoma in order to characterize the TGF-β expression in malignant gastric lesions and to determine whether expression of TGF-β was related to disease progression. On immunohistochemical analysis. TGF-β expression in scirrhous gastric carcinomas was significantly higher than in non-scirrhous gastric carcinomas. In the patients with curative resection, TGF-β expression in scirrhous gastric carcinomas was significantly higher in patients who developed peritoneal recurrence after surgery than those who did not develop such recurrence, and TGF-β expression in non-scirrhous gastric carcinomas was significantly higher in patients who developed peritoneal recurrence than those who did not develop such recurrence. In an attempt to clarify the mechanism of the prevalence of the peritoneal dissemination of scirrhous gastric carcinoma, the present investigation examined not only the protein expression of TGF-β but also TGF-β1 mRNA expression in gastric carcinomas. The plasma TGF-β1 concentrations in scirrhous gastric carcinomas patients was significantly higher than in non-scirrhous gastric carcinomas patients. These data suggest that TGF-β may contribute in part to the mechanism of formation for scirrhous gastric carcinoma.
