[Comparative studies on the DNA content of human gastric cancer cells and its metastatic foci].

Comparative cellular DNA content measurements have been done on two sites differing from each other in their anatomical location, in 16 cases of gastric cancer by means of microphotometry. In addition, comparisons on the DNA stemline of the original gastric lesions and their metastatic lesions (8 cases of liver metastases and 9 cases of lymph node metastases) also were done. The main stemlines in four cases (25%) out of 16 gastric cancers exhibited different main DNA stemlines from the other sites in the same lesion, although in the other 12 cases examined, two sites showed the same DNA stemlines to each other. In almost all cases, the DNA stemlines of the metastatic foci were consistent with those of the original lesions. The lymph node metastases simulated the original lesions in its DNA stemlines (89%) more than did the cases of livermetastases (63%). In an exceptional case, the original lesion exhibited two definite stemlines (2C & 3.5C), but only one (2C) was recognizable in the metastatic focus of the liver. This difference indicates the probable role of "clonal selection" in a blood-borne metastasis.