Immunohistochemical evaluation of the probability of skin metastasis in gastric cancer

We report the case of a 56-year-old man with advanced gastric cancer that m anifested as multiple subcutaneous nodules. Histology showed irregularly sh aped cells with large nuclei and it also showed frequent mitotic figures cl ustered throughout the dermis. To predict whether metastasis was likely to occur, we performed a controlled study using gastric cancer cells from pati ents with or without metastases. Tumor cells that had metastasized showed m ore positive staining for Ki67, PCNA and p53 than those that had not metast asized, although there were no marked differences between the reactivities of these 2 groups for factor VIII related antigen, CEA, EGF, or p21 stainin g. We conclude that immunohistochemical staining for Ki67, PCNA or p53 migh t be very useful in predicting the possible risk of metastasis of cancer ce lls.