Study of stroma in scirrhous gastric carcinoma.

Rabbits were immunized with the supernatant of a homogenate of non-cancerous gastric mucosa to obtain an antiserum. This antiserum, after absorption by human jejunal mucosa and liver tissue, produced precipitin lines with the supernatants of homogenates of gastric carcinoma and gastric mucosa. Fluorescent staining was attempted using this antiserum. Well-stained cytoplasms were observed in cells of tissue imprints of normal gastric mucosa and gastric carcinoma. When frozen sections of peroperatively extirpated materials were likewise stained, the cells and the lumen of the glands were stained to a large extent in the non-cancerous gastric mucosa and tubulary adenocarcinoma of the non-scirrhous type. In scirrhous gastric carcinoma fluorescence-stained substances were scantly in the lumen of the glands but observable to some degree in the tumor stroma. It is suggested that infiltration of the interstitium by glandular antigens induces proliferation of stroma in gastric carcinoma.