Epstein-Barr Virus-associated Gastric Adenocarcinomas Among Koreans

Abstract

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated gastric carcinomas have been reported from various regions of the world. Epstein-Barr virus appears to be pathogenetically related to some gastric carcinomas. To determine the incidence of EBV association with gastric carcinomas among Koreans, the authors have studied EBV genome expression in 89 consecutive patients with gastric carcinomas diagnosed at the Catholic University Hospitals in Seoul, Korea, using in situ hybridization (ISH) for EBV-encoded small RNAs (EBERs), and immunohistochemistry for EBV latent membrane proteins (LMP) and CD21 antigen on paraffin sections. Thirty-seven gastric specimens with benign ulcer disease were used controls. EBV-encoded small RNAs were expressed in tumor cell nuclei in 12 patients (13.5%). None of the controls or benign portions of the cases were positive. In the positive cases, all tumor cell nuclei were uniformly stained and the staining intensity was strong. Immunohistochemistry for LMP was positive in 3 of 12 EBERs positive patients and none of EBERs negative patients. EBV latent membrane proteins was localized only in the lymphoid cells infiltrating the tumor in two patients, and tumor cells as well as infiltrating lymphoid cells in one patient. These results indicate that the rate of EBV association with gastric carcinomas in Koreans is relatively high and comparable to other Far Eastern Asian regions. The expression pattern in EBV-associated gastric carcinomas is similar to those of nasopharyngeal carcinomas in which clonality analysis using specific probes to the tandem repeat region of EBV yielded single episomal bands suggesting that EBV infection in EBV-associated gastric carcinomas are also clonal and pathogenetically related to the neoplasm. However, the mechanism of tumorigenesis remains to be elucidated.

Epstein-Barr virus infection and gastric carcinoma in São Paulo State, Brazil

“…Occurrence in elderly persons and male predominance are common in EBV-associated gastric carcinomas (23,25,27,29,(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37), and these findings were also observed in the present study. However, the site where EBVpositive gastric carcinoma more often arises is a controversial issue in the literature.…”

“…The frequency of EBV-positive gastric carcinomas can reach up to 18% (19,21,23,(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39), as reported in Germany (39). In Eastern countries, e.g., Japan, China and Taiwan, EBV-positive gastric cancer comprises 5.6 to 13.5% of cases (19,21,(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36).…”

“…In Eastern countries, e.g., Japan, China and Taiwan, EBV-positive gastric cancer comprises 5.6 to 13.5% of cases (19,21,(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36). In Russia, Galetsky et al (37) respectively.…”

Establishment of Epstein‐Barr Virus‐positive Human Gastric Epithelial Cell Lines

“…LMP is not expressed in EBV-associated gastric carcinomas, 15,16,25,26) except in a few cases. 6,17,27) Our two cell lines revealed a patchy distribution of LMP1, as seen in other types of cell lines, 28,29) although the expression of LMP1 was relatively low in GT39 cells. It has been reported that the expression of LMP is tightly regulated by cellular factor(s), 30) and that LMP is not expressed in EBV-infected epithelial cell lines, except after addition of differentiating agents.…”

Epstein–Barr virus and oncogenesis: from latent genes to tumours

“…EBV-positive gastric cancers are more likely in males compared with females (Shibata and Weiss, 1992;Tokunaga et al, 1993), less likely to be found in the gastric antrum than in the cardia or body of the stomach Yuen et al, 1994;Galetsky et al, 1997), and more likely to be poorly differentiated tumours (Yuen et al, 1994;Gulley et al, 1996;Shin et al, 1996;Galetsky et al, 1997). Less consistent associations have been found for age, with some studies finding more EBV-positive tumours in older people, 60 þ years (Qiu et al, 1997) or 56 þ years (Gulley et al, 1996).…”