THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE EXPRESSION OF PROLIFERATING CELL NUCLEARANTIGEN AND CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL VARIABLES OF GASTRIC-CANCER

A monoclonal antibody against proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA ), PC10, was applied to 96 gastrectomy specimens obtained from patient s with gastric cancer. Resected tissue was routinely processed and sta ined immunohistochemically with PC10. One thousand tumor cells were co unted and the ratio of the number of stained cells to total tumor cell s was calculated as the PCNA index, which ranged from 13.8% to 88.8% w ith a mean of 61.4%. Although the PCNA index did not correlate with pa thological variables including histological type, lymph node metastasi s, growth pattern and venous invasion, it was significantly lower in m ucosal carcinomas compared with submucosal and advanced carcinomas.