AKlRA TOKUNAGA, MD,* KEIGO NISHI, MD,' NORIO MATSUKURA, MD,' NORITAKE TANAKA, MD,' MASAHIKO ONDA, MD,',t AKlRO SHIROTA, MD,$ GORO ASANO, MD.t.9 AND KAZUO HAYASHI, PHD)/ Cancerous tissue from 86 patients with primary gastric cancer were examined for the presence of receptors for estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PgR). ER and PgR were present in 8 (15.4%) and 5 (9.6%), respectively, of 52 male patients, 9 (26.6%) and 7 (20.6%), respectively, of 34 female patients, a total of 17 (19.8%) and 12 (14.0%), respectively. One male patient (1.9%) and 4 female patients (11.8%) had both ER and PgR, and 40 male (76.9%) and 22 female patients (64.7%) showed no ER or PgR. The binding activity ranged from 6 to 200 fmol/mg protein for estradiol and from 5 to 58 fmol/mg protein for progesterone. ER-and/or PgR-positive cases were characterized grossly as Borrmann type 4, and microscopically as diffuse type with scirrhous growth pattern. The presence of ER and/or PgR in some gastric cancers indicates the possibility that sex hormonal factors are involved in these tumors.

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The esophagus was totally examined in 264 autopsied cases and 61 operated cases, for a total of 325 cases, to clarify the histogenesis of squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. Epithelial dysplasia of the mucosa was present in 27y0 and subclinical carcinoma was found in 2.4%. Hyperplasia of the duct of the esophageal gland proper was present in 34% and dysplasia of the ductal epithelium in 3%. Reserve cell hyperplasia-like change of the islet of the ectopic gastric mucosa was found in 4% and reserve cell hyperplasia-like change of the esophagogastric junction zone in 13%. Of the seven cases of microcarcinoma, two showed dysplasia and gradual transition and one presented dysplasia and abrupt transition. Another two were considered to have originated in the ductal epithelium. These findings suggested that they could all be the sites of origin of cancer development.

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