Gastric chief cells, a mature cell type that secretes digestive enzymes, have been proposed to be the origin of metaplasia and cancer through dedifferentiation or transdifferentiation. However, studies supporting this claim have had technical limitations, including issues with the specificity of chief cell markers and the toxicity of drugs used. We therefore sought to identify genes expressed specifically in chief cells and establish a model to trace these cells.

We performed transcriptome analysis of Mist1-CreERT–traced cells, with or without chief cell depletion. Gpr30-rtTA mice were generated and crossed to TetO-Cre mice, and lineage tracing was performed after crosses to R26-TdTomato mice. Additional lineage tracing experiments were performed using Mist1-CreERT, Kitl-CreERT, Tff1-Cre, and Tff2-Cre mice crossed to reporter mice. Mice were given high-dose tamoxifen or DMP-777 or were infected with Helicobacter pylori to induce gastric metaplasia. We studied mice that expressed mutant forms of Ras in gastric cells, using TetO-Kras^G12D, LSL-Kras^G12D, and LSL-Hras^G12V mice. We analyzed stomach tissues from GPR30-knockout mice. Mice were given dichloroacetate to inhibit pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK)–dependent cell competition.

We identified GPR30, the G-protein–coupled form of the estrogen receptor, as a cell-specific marker of chief cells in gastric epithelium of mice. Gpr30-rtTA mice crossed to TetO-Cre;R26-TdTomato mice had specific expression of GPR30 in chief cells, with no expression noted in isthmus stem cells or lineage tracing of glands. Expression of mutant Kras in GPR30⁺ chief cells did not lead to the development of metaplasia or dysplasia but, instead, led to a reduction in labeled numbers of chief cells and a compensatory expansion of neck lineage, which was derived from upper Kitl⁺ clones. Administration of high-dose tamoxifen, DMP-777, or H pylori decreased the number of labeled chief cells. Chief cells were eliminated from epithelia via GPR30- and PDK-dependent cell competition after metaplastic stimuli, whereas loss of GRP30 or inhibition of PDK activity preserved chief cell numbers and attenuated neck lineage cell expansion.

In tracing studies of mice, we found that most chief cells are lost during metaplasia and therefore are unlikely to contribute to gastric carcinogenesis. Expansion of cells that coexpress neck and chief lineage markers, known as spasmolytic polypeptide-expressing metaplasia, does not occur via dedifferentiation from chief cells but, rather, through a compensatory response from neck progenitors to replace the eliminated chief cells.