The aim of the present study was to examine immunohistochemically the expression of Bcl-2 in stomach carcinomas in relation to the clinical staging of the patients. Staining with a monoclonal antibody against Bcl-2 was positive in 60% of the 40 investigated carcinomas. A significant difference in staining patterns could be demonstrated, as 87% of the intestinal type tumors and only 44% of tumors of the diffuse type showed positive staining. No specific relation was observed concerning pTNM staging or tumor grading. Four investigated stomach carcinoma cell lines showed strong positive staining. We conclude from our results that the expression of Bcl-2 is a common phenomenon in stomach carcinomas, where it is related to more differentiated tumors, but its detection seems of no direct value for clinical staging of the patients.

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