FHIT and cancer: Caselli et al (2001) studied preneoplastic lesions in histological samples of patients who developed gastric cancer within 2 years and did not observe reduction or loss of Fhit expression, whereas reduced or absent expression was observed in 61.5% of the cancers; complete Fhit loss was observed only in areas of low differentiation. Huiping et al observed absence or reduction of Fhit expression in 78% of gastric cancers and found an association between abnormal Fhit expression and positive node status.