Aim: To investigate chromosome 8 numerical aberrations, C-MYC oncogene alterations and its expression in gastric cancer and to correlate these findings with histopathological characteristics of gastric tumors.
Methods: Specimens were collected surgically from seven patients with gastric adenocarcinomas. Immunostaining for C-MYC and dual-color fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for C-MYC gene and chromosome 8 centromere were performed.
Results: All the cases showed chromosome 8 aneuploidy and C-MYC amplification, in both the diffuse and intestinal histopathological types of Lauren. No significant difference (P < 0.05) was observed between the level of chromosome 8 ploidy and the site, stage or histological type of the adenocarcinomas. C-MYC high amplification, like homogeneously stained regions (HSRs) and double minutes (DMs), was observed only in the intestinal-type. Structural rearrangement of C-MYC, like translocation, was observed only in the diffuse type. Regarding C-MYC gene, a significant difference (P < 0.05) was observed between the two histological types. The C-MYC protein was expressed in all the studied cases. In the intestinal-type the C-MYC immunoreactivity was localized only in the nucleus and in the diffuse type in the nucleus and cytoplasm.
Conclusion: Distinct patterns of alterations between intestinal and diffuse types of gastric tumors support the hypothesis that these types follow different genetic pathways.