The relationship of gastrointestinal endocrine cells to gastric epithelial changes with special reference to gastric cancer.

Using advanced gastric adenocarcinoma and carcinoid as human material and gastric adenocarcinoma in rats induced by MNNG and in mice by localized X-irradiation of the stomach as experimental material, a pathological study was made on the relationship of gastric endocrine cells to gastric cancer. The results of the present study suggest that most of the endocrine cells in the cancer tissue are derived from the differentiation of cancer cells. Therefore, the following three may be given as the aformentioned relationship, that is, 1) carcinoid of endocrine cell origin, 2) endocrine cell carcinoma showing undifferentiated adenocarcinoma, and 3) endocrine cell cloning developed from the differentiation of cancer cell of adenocarcinoma. There is the possibility that most of 2) are of 3) origin and thus 2) and 3) should be discriminated from 1), having a functioning tumor in rare cases. The significance of reactive hyperplasia of endocrine cells in the non-metaplastic mucosa of the stomach around cancer and atypical epithelium is not yet determined, but that of EC cell seems at least to be related with the development of intestinal metaplasia in the gastric mucosa.