Pepsinogens in gastric carcinomas.

Polyclonal rabbit antisera raised against the two major groups of human pepsinogens (PG I and PG II) were used in an immunohistochemical study of human gastric carcinomas. Thirty-two carcinomas, classified histologically according to the Lauren classification as diffuse or intestinal, were studied; and the staining patterns of the tumor and adjacent gastric mucosa were assessed. In some of the tumors of both types, PG I and/or PG II staining of the neoplastic cells was seen, with PG I being found significantly more frequently than PG II. No characteristic staining pattern was associated with either Lauren type. (The presence of pepsinogens in gastric carcinoma cells therefore appears unlikely to be of relevance to the Lauren type of the tumor.) These findings do not support the notion of a separate histogenesis for diffuse and intestinal types of gastric carcinoma.