The aim of this study was to characterize histo-chemical patterns and Das-1 and Ki67 protein expression in gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA) and intestinal metaplasia (IM) lesions adjacent to GCA. Histochemical techniques, including Alcian blue/periodic acid-Schiff (AB/PAS), high iron diamine/Alcian blue (HID/AB) and avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex (ABC) immunohistochemistry were applied to GCA and IM samples from patients (n=200) in Linzhou, Henan, China, a high incidence area for GCA and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The detection rate of IM lesions in resected tissues adjacent to GCA was 32.5% (65/200). GCA and IM lesions presented a high frequency of Das-1 and Ki67-positive staining with statistical significance (P<0.01). The expression of sulfuric proteins did not show co-expression with Das-1 and Ki67 in GCA and surrounding IM lesions (P>0.05) from the same GCA patient. The high frequency of co-expression of Das-1 and Ki67 in GCA and adjacent IM lesions indicates that IM adjacent to GCA may undergo similar molecular changes to GCA, which may be one of the mechanisms for malignant transformation of IM in the population studied.
Keywords: Das-1; Ki67; gastric cardia adenocarcinoma; histochemistry; immunohistochemistry; intestinal metaplasia.