Density of tryptase-positive mast cells correlated with the presence of H. pylori in gastric neoplasia

Background. Gastric cancer continues to be a platoon leader of mortality causes. A significant number of recent studies show direct or indirect involvement of mast cells (MC), with a complex role both pro- and anti-tumor growth.

Aim. To objectify the correlations between expression of MC and presence of Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection depending on neoplastic nature of the gastric damage.

Subjects and Methods. The study was carried out on archival samples of gastric wall from 30 patients with gastric cancer versus 30 age and sex-matched subjects with gastric surgery for nonneoplastic diseases. The inclusion criteria for the case group were histologically proven stage T3/T4 malignancies with regional lymph node metastases. For each case of the study group, distribution and number of MC tryptase positive (DMC–TP) were analyzed in five different areas from the same gastrectomy specimen: intratumor area, deep and side tumor invasion front, normal gastric tissue sample 5-10 cm or more distant from the tumor and furthest resection margin.

Results. Independently of HP infection, the study recorded a significantly lower value of DMC-TP in male patients. In regions with inflammatory lesions and preneoplastic changes and in control cases with non-gastric neoplasia, the DMC-TP level was higher than controls with HP-related inflammatory pathology, thus removing bacterial etiology from the forefront of MC mobilizing causes.

Conclusion. The presence of H. pylori infection was not found to cause significant changes in terms of mobilizing mast cells in the gastric wall with advanced tumors, with minimal stage III TNM.