Histochemical and immunohistochemical studies of gastric carcinoma and pertaining gastric mucosa

114 cases of gastric carcinoma of various types and the gastric mucosa pertaining to the lesions from surgical biopsies were studied with CEA immunohistochemistry and histochemistry. The detectable rate of intestinal metaplasia (IM) of atrophic gastritis of the control group and the gastric mucosa pertaining to carcinomas was higher than that of the cancer group. Heteromorphism, dysplasia, and cancerization were not obtained in these proliferative cells of the IM. There were no transitional forms found between IM and atypical hyperplasia or between IM and carcinoma. Since most of these lesions belong to colonic type of IM and intestinal type of gastric carcinoma, it might be due to a shift of cell differentiation from the well functioning cells to the poorly functioning cells of the colon like glands for adaptation. The CEA positive cells were 60% in the IM of atrophic gastritis, and not all these CEA positive cells possessed a close relation with cancer. Anyhow the extent of CEA positive cells is still possibly a criterion in estimating the prognosis of gastric carcinoma.