Relationship of tumoral hyaluronic acid and cathepsin D contents with histological type of gastric carcinoma

The aim of this work was to evaluate the cytosolic contents of hyaluronic a cid (HA) and cathepsin D (CatD) in gastric carcinomas and their possible re lationships with the clinicopathological parameters of the tumors. Our stud y demonstrated a wide variability in the cytosolic levels of HA (mean +/- S EM: 3748 +/- 411 ng/mg protein) and cathepsin D (52 +/- 4 pmol/mg protein) in the tumors of 78 gastric cancer patients. In addition, the tumoral conte nts of HA and CatD were significantly higher (p<0.005) in diffuse type (HA: 6027 +/- 1099 ng/mg protein; CatD: 75 +/- 13 pmol/mg protein) than in inte stinal type (HA: 2735 +/- 242 ng/mg protein; CatD: 42+/-3 pmol/mg protein) carcinomas. These data suggest that both markers may contribute to the biol ogical characterization of gastric carcinomas.