ESTROGEN AND PROGESTERONE RECEPTORS AND PS2 AND ERD5 ANTIGENS IN GASTRIC CARCINOMAS FROM THE EUROPEAN POPULATION

We examined immunohistochemically 50 gastric carcinomas from European patients for estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors, and hormone-r eceptor-related proteins pS2 and ERD5. Unlike gastric carcinomas hem n on-Europeans reported previously, the carcinomas of the present series were all negative for estrogen and progesterone receptors, One-half o f them, however, expressed pS2, and three-fourths were positive for ER D5. pS2 expression was significantly more frequent in carcinomas of th e diffuse type than in those of the intestinal type and in advanced ca rcinomas compared with early ones, Our results indicate that pS2 and E RD5 are estrogen independent in the stomach. The possibility that estr ogen and progesterone receptor status could be different in gastric ca rcinomas from Occidental and non-Occidental patients is discussed.