Immunohistochemical expression of cell-cycle proteins in gastric precancerous lesions.

Background: The early indicator for the subject predisposed to gastric cancer is abnormal proliferation of gastric epithelial cells, such as atrophic gastritis (AG), intestinal metaplasia (IM), and dysplasia, which have been considered as precancerous lesions of gastric cancer. To determine whether p53 protein, cyclins D1, and D3, and p27(kip1) play a role in the carcinogenesis pathway of gastric cancer, we performed an immunohistochemical study of their expression in gastric precancerous lesions.

Methods: A total of 1 45 endoscopic gastric biopsy specimens of AG, IM, and gastric dysplasia were studied.