Expression of Mac-2 Antigen in Gastric Carcinoma

Kim, Jin Pok; Kim, Woo Ho; Kim, Yong Il; Yang, Han Kwang; Lee, Wan Ae

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Mac-2 antigen is a phosphoprotein involved in cell adhesion and cell division. It is also known to be up-regulated by transfection of oncogenes.
METHODS
To investigate the clinical significance of Mac-2 antigen in gastric careinoma, we analyzed 92 cases of Korean patients with gastric cancer in the aspect of the Mac-2 antigen expression and its relation with clinicopathological parameters.
RESULTS
The Mac-2 antigen was not expressed in normal gastric mucosa, but was positive focally in the epithelium with intestinal metaplasia. Increased expression was observed in 52 cases of gastric carcinoma (56.5%) out of 92 cases. The increased expression of Mac-2 in the tumor was positively correlated with stromal collagen production. The Mac-2 expression was not correlated with histologic type, depth of invasion, inflammatory reaction, lymph node metastasis, or clinical stage.
CONCLUSIONS
The Mac-2 expression is positively correlated with desmoplastic reaction of the gastric carcinoma tissue. Further study will be needed to elucidate the mechanism.