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An AFP‐producing gastric carcinoma with features of hepatic differentiation. A case report
Author(s) -
Ishikura Hiroshi,
Fukasawa Yuichiro,
Ogasawara Kazuhiro,
Natori Takashi,
Tsukada Yutaka,
Aizawa Miki
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(19850815)56:4<840::aid-cncr2820560423>3.0.co;2-e
Subject(s) - pathology , alpha fetoprotein , hepatocellular carcinoma , adenocarcinoma , hyaline , medicine , gastric carcinoma , carcinoma , stomach , ultrastructure , gastroenterology , cancer
A patient with primary gastric adenocarcinoma with extremely high serum alpha‐fetoprotein (AFP) levels (12,000 ng/ml) is described. Histologically, foci strongly resembling hepatocellular carcinoma with hyaline globules were noted. Within tumor cells, AFP was identified with both light and electron microscopy, showing the production of AFP by tumor cells themselves. Furthermore, 88% of serum AFP combined with Concanavalin A (ConA), revealing that it was hepatic‐type AFP and not germcell‐type. Localization of alpha‐I‐antitrypsin within tumor cells was also noted. Ultrastructural study showed that there were two types of structures corresponding to periodic acid‐Schiff (PAS)‐positive globules, one of which, the proteinaceous material in intracytoplasmic lumina, was found to contain AFP. Among gastric adenocarcinomas with a high serum AFP level (several thousand or more ng/ml of AFP), foci resembling hepatocellular carcinomas have been reported by several investigators. Those gastric carcinomas, together with the current case, may constitute a clinicopathologic entity, hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach.