Studies of Apoptosis and Cell Cycle of Gastric Cancer by using Flow Cytometory -Especially on the Relationship between Hypodiploid Cells and p53 Supreser Gene-

Mitsumasa Matsumoto and Kazuhito Miyachi

First Department of Surgery, Dokkyo University School of Medicine

The advantage of flow-cytometry is to analyze many cells and multi factors in a short time. We measured the expression of p53 and bcl-2 in 57 gastric cancer patients by using flow-cytometry. The synthesis phase fraction (SPF) and frequency of hypodiploidy of cells were also analyzed. Hypodiploidy and SPF tended to be higher in cancer cells compared to normal cells. Hypodiploidy and SPF were 3.38% and 18.88%, respectively, in undifferentiated type of cancer, whereas they were 1.64% and 16.24% in differentiated type. In patients with positive p53 expression, the level of SPF was higher than expected together with a high apoptosis index. We speculated that p53 leads apoptosis of cancer cells in the G2/M phase.

Key words
gastric cancer, apoptosis, p53, hypodiploid, syntheesis-phase fraction

Reprint requests
Mitsumasa Matsumoto First Department of Surgery, Dokkyo University School of Medicine, 880 Kitakobayashi, Mibumachi, Shimotsugagunn, Tochigi, 321-0293 JAPAN

Accepted
September 22, 1999

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