Analysis of ras gene expression in stomach cancer by anti-ras p21 monoclonal antibodies.

Using anti-ras p21 monoclonal antibodies, RASK-3, which reacts with all of Ki-, N-, and Ha-ras p21, we examined by immunohistochemistry the expression of p21 in human gastric cancer (80 cases) and benign gastric lesions (32 cases). Ten percent formalin fixed tissues were studied. Ras p21 was positive in 51 cases (64%) out of 80 cases and partially positive in 12 cases (15%) at the cancerous areas. Ras p21 was partially positive in 7 cases (9%) at the noncancer areas of the same slides. Intestinal metaplasia and normal parietal cells were also often positive. In the study of 32 cases of benign stomach lesions, 2 out of 3 cases of atypical hyperplasia (ATP) and 3 out of 11 cases of stomach ulcer with regenerating epithelials were positive. Ras p21 was more dominantly expressed in the well-differentiated type of stomach cancer than the poorly differentiated type. Expression of ras p21, however, was not correlated either with the grades of cancer invasion or with the types of cancer infiltration.