An analysis of DNA histogram and the expression of carbohydrate antigens regarding the degree of malignancy in gastric cancer

Abstract

We investigated both DNA histogram and the expression of carbohydrate antigens concerning to 168 patients with gastric cancer. Gastric cancer with type II DNA ploidy pattern showed a high incidence of vascular invasion and liver metastasis in the DNA analysis. Furthermore, ten patients with Stage II died of recurrence of gastric cancer within 2 years, of these nine patients showed type II or III DNA ploidy pattern. Then, gastric cancer with type II or III DNA ploidy pattern showed a high incidence of the expression of carbohydrate antigens, where they tended to distribute to cytoplasm and stroma. In conclusion, an analysis of nuclear DNA content appeared useful to predict prognosis in gastric cancer, in which type II DNA ploidy pattern showed the highest degree of malignancy, and both the expression of carbohydrate antigens and their localization possibly fill the role of parameter of the degree of malignancy.