Original ContributionsExpression of cytokeratins 7 and 20 in primary carcinomas of the stomach and colorectum and their value in the differential diagnosis of metastatic carcinomas to the ovary
Section snippets
Tissue samples
Paraffin-embedded tissue sections were obtained from archival material from 289 patients who underwent resection for primary gastric carcinoma in 1995, 225 patients who underwent resection for primary colorectal carcinoma in 1998, and 43 patients with metastatic carcinomas to the ovary who underwent surgery between 1992 and 1999. All cases were selected from files at the Department of Pathology, Seoul National University Hospital. Pathologic information, including stage and histologic
CK7 and CK20 expression in gastric cancer
In normal gastric mucosa, foveolar epithelial cells and scattered endocrine cells in the upper glandular zone stained positive for CK20, whereas mucous neck cells stained positive for CK7. In complete intestinal metaplasia, CK7 was not expressed, but CK20 was strongly expressed in both the surface epithelium and the proliferative zone. In incomplete intestinal metaplasia, CK7 was expressed in both the surface and the proliferative zone, with progressively decreasing reactivity from the
Discussion
The combined expression of CK7 and CK20 has recently been proposed as an aid to the determination of the site of origin of metastatic carcinomas. However, little is known of the combined expression of these CKs for carcinomas of the stomach.
CK20 positivity was reported in about 50% of gastric carcinomas,2, 9, 11, 12 and CK7 reactivity was reported in 60% to 75% of specimen examined.9, 11, 12 However, the number of cases was too few to accurately represent the immunoreactivity of CK7 and CK20 in
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