LEUCHTENBERGER BODIES IN FLAT ADENOMAS OF THE COLORECTAL MUCOSA - A COMPARISON BETWEEN JAPANESE AND SWEDISH PATIENTS

The dysplastic epithelium of flat colorectal adenomas was found to con tain DNA inclusion granules, known as Leuchtenberger bodies (LB). Hema toxylin and eosin-stained sections of 263 colorectal flat neoplastic l esions (i.e., fiat adenomas and flat adenocarcinomas) collected in Jap an and Sweden were scrutinized for the presence of such intraepithelia l inclusions. LB were recorded in 87.1% of the 263 flat colorectal neo plastic lesions. The frequency of flat colorectal lesions having LB wa s similar in Japan (160 of 178 or 89.8%) to that in Sweden (69 of 85 f lat lesions or 81.2%), suggesting that the occurrence of LB may not be influenced by race or environment. Direct immunoperoxidase detection of nuclear DNA fragmentation and transmission electron microscopy stud ies indicated that the inclusions contained apoptotic material. The se miquantitative assessment of histochemically labeled apoptotic granule s indicated that the number of lesions having moderate to large number s of apoptotic granules (++/+++) was higher in flat adenomas with high -grade dysplasia, suggesting that the occurrence of these granules may be related to the degree of severity of the dysplastic process. A bet ter knowledge of LB may improve our understanding of the possible rela tionship between apoptosis, host immune response and carcinogenesis in flat colorectal adenomas.