Gastric Cancer
Copyright ©2005 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 7, 2005; 11(1): 27-30
Published online Jan 7, 2005. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i1.27
Epstein-Barr virus-associated gastric carcinoma in Kazakhstan
Gabit Alipov, Toshiyuki Nakayama, Masahiro Nakashima, Chun-Yang Wen, Daisuke Niino, Hisayoshi Kondo, Yuri Pruglo, Ichiro Sekine
Gabit Alipov, Masahiro Nakashima, Ichiro Sekine, Tissue and Histopathology Section, Division of Scientific Data Registry, Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan
Toshiyuki Nakayama, Chun-Yang Wen, Daisuke Niino, Ichiro Sekine, Department of Molecular Pathology, Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan
Hisayoshi Kondo, Biostatics Section, Division of Scientific Data Registry, Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan
Yuri Pruglo, Department of Pathology, Semipalatinsk Medical Academy, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Correspondence to: Toshiyuki Nakayama, M.D., PhD, Department of Molecular Pathology, Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan. toshi-n@net.nagasaki-u.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-95-8497107 Fax: +81-95-8497108
Received: May 10, 2004
Revised: May 15, 2004
Accepted: July 9, 2004
Published online: January 7, 2005
Abstract

AIM: To investigate the incidence of Epstein-Barr virus-associated gastric cancer (EBV-GC) in Kazakhstan and to compare it with that in Russia, Western and Asian countries in order to evaluate the significance of epidemiopathologic and ethnic factors.

METHODS: In situ hybridization (ISH) of EBV-encoded small RNA-1 (EBER-1) was used to identify the presence of EBER-1 signal in 139 formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded GC tissues from Kazakhstan.

RESULTS: EBER-1 expression was observed in the nuclei of 10% of the cases of GC (14/139), but not in the surrounding normal mucosa. The incidence of the diffuse type of EBV-GC was significantly higher in Kazakhstan (14%, 13/91) than that of the intestinal type (2%, 1/48). Furthermore, the incidence was significantly higher in males (14%, 12/89) than in females (3.7%, 2/53) from all countries. The overall incidence of EBV-GC increased from 6.7% in Asian countries to 8.7% in Russia, 10.1% in Kazakhstan and 16% in Western countries.

CONCLUSION: Geographical differences in the incidence of EBV-GC may reflect the epidemiologic factors and/or dietary habits independent of histological type and sex.

Keywords: Gastric carcinomas, Epstein-Barr virus, EBV-encoded small RNA-1