Distribution of β‐human chorionic gonadotropin‐positive cells in noncancerous gastric mucosa and in malignant gastric tumors

The authors examined the localization and behavior of β‐human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG)‐positive cells in human gastric noncancerous mucosa and in gastric malignant tumors, using immunohistochemistry and the anti‐β‐HCG antibody. The β‐HCG‐positive cells were located mainly in the antral mucosa and were generally restricted to the neck portion of the pyloric glands, although a few were present in fundic glands of the gastric body. The β‐HCG‐immunoreactive cells were found in gastric carcinomas in 53% of the 92 cases examined. These cells were observed more often in advanced carcinomas that were histologically poorly differentiated than in early carcinomas or in well‐differentiated tumors, but this prevalence had no statistical significance. The presence of the β‐HCG‐positive cells in the gastric carcinomas suggested no appreciable prognostic significance, even quantitatively. In the syncytiotrophoblast‐like tumor cells seen in four gastric tumor samples with histologic features of a choriocarcinoma, immunoreactivity to the β‐HCG was striking. There was, however, no recognizable dominance in the number of β‐HCG‐reactive cells in the noncancerous mucosa around the tumor.