Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1997 Jun;12(2):137-43.
doi: 10.3904/kjim.1997.12.2.137.

DNA analysis by flow cytometry in early gastric cancer

Affiliations

DNA analysis by flow cytometry in early gastric cancer

J M Kim et al. Korean J Intern Med. 1997 Jun.

Abstract

Objectives: Flow cytometric analysis of a paraffin-embedded block of tissue provides rapid and accurate means of analyzing the DNA content of a tumor. The aim of this study was to clarify the clinical significance of flow cytometric findings in early gastric cancer(EGC). Thus we conducted this study to investigate whether DNA contents of tumor cells can correlate with known prognostic indices in patients with EGC.

Methods: The flow cytometric DNA analysis was performed with paraffin-embedded specimens from tumors of 107 patients with EGC. Flow cytometric analysis was performed using a FACScan (Becton Dickinson). In constructing the histogram, 30,000 cells were scanned from each section and results were scored. The S-phase fraction was obtained according to the CellFit cell cycle analysis (Becton Dikinson). Frequencies of aneuploidy in tumors with various clinical and pathologic parameters were compared using the chi-square test. Mean SPF/PI valuse were compared by the student t-test.

Results: Diploidy pattern was observed in 80 (75%) cases while aneuploidy was seen in 27(25%) cases. Aneuploidy was more frequently detected in tumors with submucosal involvement (32.7%) and lymph node (+) group (30.8%) than in the mucosal tumor (17.3%) and lymph node (-) group (24.5%), but the differences were not significant. Frequency of aneuploidy was not affected by either the histologic type or morphologic classification. On the other hand, high proliferative activities (SPF/PI) significantly correlated with the submucosal tumor invasion (66.7% vs. 45%; p < 0.05) and lymph node metastasis (28.6% vs. 7.5%; p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Tumor aggressiveness is not directly related to DNA aneuploidy but proliferative activities are responsible for the aggressive nature of early gastric cancer. The results of this study show that DNA analysis by flow cytometry in considered to be one method of determining the biological activity of gastric cancer cells.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Example of flow cytomerty histograms from diploid tumor.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Example of flow cytomerty histograms from aneuploid tumor.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Atkin NB, Kay R. Prognostic significance of modal DNA value and other factors in malignant tumors based on 1,465 cases. Br J Cancer. 1979;40:210–221. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hedley DW, Friedlander ML, Taylor IW, Rugg CA, Muscrove E. Method for analysis of cellular DNA content in paraffin-embedded pathological meterial using flow cytometry. J Histochem Cytochem. 1983;31:1333–1335. - PubMed
    1. Armitage NC, Robins RA, Evans DF, Turner DR, Baldwin RW, Hardcastle JD. The influence of tumor cell DNA abnormalities on survival in colorectal cancer. Br J Surg. 1985;72:828–830. - PubMed
    1. Hedley DW, Rugg CA, Gelber RD. Association of DNA index and S-phase fraction with prognosis of nodes positive early breast cancer. Cancer Res. 1987;47:4729–4735. - PubMed
    1. Yu JM, Yang LH, Guo Q. Flow cytometric analysis DNA content in esophageal carcinoma: Correlation with histologic and clinical features. Cancer. 1989;64:80–82. - PubMed