Prevalence of CD34, CD326 and STRO-1 expression in gastric precancerous and cancer samples: A preliminary study

 Gastric cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. It is well-known that Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) plays a crucial role in its pathogenesis. Recent studies have shown that H. pylori infection leads to the migration of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSC) into the gastric tissue and their resultant change into gastric cancer in animal models. However, the existence of these cells in human gastric cancers has not yet been studied.

  We selected 10 each precancerous sample (dysplasia and metaplasia) and 15 gastric cancers from the pathology department of Toheed Hospital in Sanandaj.. All of the samples were stained by CD34, CD326, and STRO-1 antibodies and immunohistochemistry technique. Pathologic diagnosis was made by an expert pathologist.

CD34 was expressed only on endothelial cells of all samples. CD326 was expressed at a low level in precancerous samples, but its expression was much higher in cancer samples. In contrast, STRO-1 antigen was not detected in any of the samples.

CD34 and CD326 were expressed in gastric cancer samples. However, STRO-1 antigen which is a specific marker for BM-MSC was not detected in gastric precancerous and cancer samples. Our data suggested that BM-MSCs were not the origin of the gastric cancer cells or their nature might have been totally changed after transforming into cancer cells.