Comparative immunohistochemical characteristics of Ki-67, p53, caspase-3 expression in gastric hyperplastic polyps and non-invasive intestinal-type gastric adenocarcinoma

Aim. The problem of early diagnostic of gastric cancer has a tight connection with the issue of premalignant lesions, especially gastric polyps. The aim of this research was to compare the expression levels of Ki-67, p53 and caspase-3 in epithelial cells and stromal cells of gastric hyperplastic polyps on the one hand and tumor cells and stromal cells of non-invasive intestinal-type gastric adenocarcinoma on the other hand. Materials and methods. For this purpose, pathohistological and immunohistochemical studies were used. The biopsies of 10 patients with hyperplastic polyps (the age of the patients ranged from 52 to 73 years) and surgical material of 10 patients with non-invasive (pTis, pT1) intestinal-type gastric adenocarcinoma (the age of patients ranged from 45 to 83 years) were analyzed. Results. It was established that epithelial cells of gastric hyperplastic polyps are characterized by low expression level of Ki-67, p53 and caspase-3, just as stromal cells of hyperplastic polyps are characterized by low expression level of Ki-67 and the medium expression level of caspase-3. Moreover, it has been established that tumor cells of non-invasive intestinal-type gastric adenocarcinoma are characterized by medium expression level of Ki-67, caspase-3 and also low expression level of p53, just as stromal cells of non-invasive adenocarcinoma are characterized by low expression level of Ki-67 and low expression level of caspase-3. The differences between the expression levels of Ki-67, p53 and caspase-3, that were established for hyperplastic polyps on the one hand and non-invasive adenocarcinoma on the other hand, are statistically significant (p<0,05). Conclusion. These data demonstrate, that proliferative activity of non-invasive intestinal-type gastric adenocarcinoma tumor cells is higher than proliferative activity of gastric hyperplastic polyps epithelial cells. Moreover, non-invasive intestinal-type gastric adenocarcinoma differs by higher activity of p53 accumulation, higher level of tumor cells apoptosis and lower level of stromal cells apoptosis.