The expression of c-src gene in the carcinogenesis process of human cardia adenocarcinoma.

AIM:To investigate the activation, expression of c-src gene and its role in the carcinogenetic process of human cardia adenocarcinoma (CA).METHODS:Fifty six cases of CA, 34 cases of normal, 36 cases of protiferative epithelia adjacent to carcinoma, and 20 cases of lymph node metastases of CA were studied for PP60(c-src),the expression product of c-src gene immunohistochemically by using the specific monoclonal antibody,Mab327.RESULTS: The positive rates of PP60(c-src) in the normal epithelia,protiferative epithelia, CA and lymph node metastases were 29.4% (10/34), 94.4% (34/36), 71.4% (40/56) and 60.0%(12/20), respectively, among them, the differences of the positive rates were statistically significant (P < 0.01). The expression levels of PP60(c-src) in CA and proli ferative epithelia were significantly higher than that in the normal epithelia(P< 0.01).The PP60(c-src) positive rates in the papillary, tubular, poorly different-tiated and mucous adenocarcinoma were 75.0% (6/8), 81.8% (18/22), 50.0% (10/20) and 100.0% (6/6), respectively, whereas those of tubular and mucous adenocarcinomas were significantly higher than those of papillary and poorly differentiated adenocar-cinomas (P < 0.05), and the PP60(c-src) expression levels of tubular and mucous adenocarcinomas were also significantly higher than those of papillary and poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas (P< 0.01).CONCLUSION:The activation and expression of c-src gene are associated with the initiation and development of human CA; the protein amount of PP60(c-src)increased during the process of carcinogenesis; and PP60(c-src) expression is also related to lymph node metastases.