IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF A CASE OF GASTRITIS CYSTICA PROFUNDA ASSOCIATED WITH CARCINOMA DEVELOPMENT

We report a rare case of gastritis cystica profunda (GCP) accompanied by carcinoma that developed in a 51-year-old Japanese man without ante cedent gastric surgery. The polypoid tumor was located in the upper bo dy of the resected stomach. Histologically, it was characterized by he rniation of surface epithelium and cystic glands in the submucosa, mus cularis propria, and subserosa. Marked chronic atrophic gastritis was found throughout the stomach, and dysplastic epithelia and a few adeno carcinoma cells were found in the deeper parts of the GCP. The Ki-67, p53, and p21(WAF1/CIP1) labeling indices for the deeper part of the GC P were higher than those for the superficial parts or the surrounding mucosa, suggesting that both epithelial cell proliferation and p53-dep endent p21(WAF1/CIP1) expression in DNA-damaged cells, which might be associated with gastritis, are enhanced in line with penetration of gl ands. The underlying mechanisms might he linked in a chain of factors leading to malignancy.