HLA Antigens and Lymph Node Metastasis in Gastric Cancer Can HLA Antigens be Indicators of Local Resection of Tumor with Preservation of Regional Lymph Node?

Kyoji Ogoshi, Masao Miyaji, Kunihiro Iwata, Shunsuke Hara, Yasumasa Kondoh, Tomoo Tajima, Toshio Mitomi

Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Tokai University

Two hundred thirty-nine patients with carcinoma of the stomach were examined for HLA antigens, PPD skin test, acute phase reactants (APRs), natural killer cells and subsets of lymphocyte before surgery. Our observations indicate that HLA B40, Bw61, and Cw3 antigens were associated with decreased risk of lymph node involvement, whereas A9 (A24) antigen was associated with increased with risk of lymph node involvement. In 89 of 106 patients with the tumor limited to the submucosa the status of lymph node involvement according to the HLA typing was examined. The patients with B40 antigen had strong skin reactions to PPD, low levels of serum APRs, high levels of OKT4, low levels of OKT8, and low levels of Leu7 and Leull, whereas those with A9 (A24) had high levels of serum ARPs, low levels of OKT4, high levels of OKT8, and high levels of Leu7 and Leu11, in patients without lymph node involvement. Class I may thus be a genetic locus closely linked to the occurrence of lymph node metastasis in gastric cancer.

Key words
HLA antigen, gastric cancer, lymph node metastasis

Reprint requests
Kyoji Ogoshi Department of Surgery, Tokai University
Bohseidai, Isehara, 259-11 JAPAN

Accepted
October 11, 1990

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