Ultrastructural Cell Patterns in Human Gastric Carcinoma Compared With Non-Neoplastic Gastric Mucosa—Histogenetic Analysis of Carcinoma by Mucin Histochemistry<xref ref-type="fn" rid="FN2">2</xref>

Abstract

Surgically removed specimens from 415 human stomachs, 16 without cancer and 399 with carcinomas, were studied cytologically for a comparison between benign epithelia and carcinoma cells. Of these, 69 were studied by electron microscopy. In noncancerous stomachs, mucus-bearing cells, especially mucous neck cells, are described in detail. The foveolar cells, especially those in the pyloric antrum, seemed most significant in the cytogenesis of gastric cancer. Gastric carcinoma cells were markedly variable, but they were conveniently divided into four groups: 1) undifferentiated carcinoma cells, 2) carcinoma cells resembling intestinal epithelium, 3) those resembling gastric cells proper, and 4) those resembling epidermoid cells. Electron microscopically, almost all gastric cancers revealed intestinalization. Carcinoma cells similar to the gastric epithelium proper were rarely observed. Among them, surface epithelial cell and foveolar cell types occurred most often. Carcinoma cells bearing zymogen granules were sparse. Twenty-nine adenoacanthomas, including nineteen additional subtypes, showed a histologic transition from “adenocarcinoma papillare medullare,” and nine of these showed intestinalization at the same time. So-called signet-ring cells could be divided into two groups. Almost all resembled goblet cells, but a few were similar to pyloric gland cells.