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Showing papers on "Epstein-Barr virus associated gastric carcinoma published in 2000"


Journal ArticleDOI
Kenzo Takada1
TL;DR: Analysis of EBV in carcinoma biopsies indicates that carcinoma is formed by the proliferation of a single EBV infected cell, and it was found that cell to cell contact was an efficient mode ofEBV infection.
Abstract: The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is detected in the tissue of about 10% of gastric carcinoma cases throughout the world. In each case, 100% of carcinoma cells are infected with EBV. Analysis of EBV in carcinoma biopsies indicates that carcinoma is formed by the proliferation of a single EBV infected cell. These findings suggest that EBV plays an important role in the development of EBV positive gastric carcinomas. The EBV genes expressed are EBV determined nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA1), two small non-polyadenylated RNAs known as EBER1 and EBER2, and the transcripts from the BamHI-A region (BARF0); in addition, some cases also express a small amount of latent membrane protein 2A (LMP2A). Epithelial cells are refractory to EBV infection in vitro. This has hampered the study of the role of EBV in epithelial malignancies. The use of recombinant EBV carrying a selectable marker has enabled this difficulty to be overcome. EBV infected cell clones can be obtained from most carcinoma cell lines examined, and it was found that cell to cell contact was an efficient mode of EBV infection. Furthermore, it was possible to immortalise primary gastric epithelial cells by EBV infection. The cells expressed identical EBV genes to those typically seen in EBV positive gastric carcinoma, and showed accelerated malignant properties, including growth in soft agarose and tumorigenicity in severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice. These results suggest that EBV contributes to the maintenance of the malignant phenotype of EBV positive gastric carcinoma.

298 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: A unique and distinct EBV latency type has been found in EBV-associated gastric adenocarcinomas using the BARF1-specific nucleic acid sequence-based amplification assay.
Abstract: Approximately 10% of gastric adenocarcinomas worldwide are associated with human EBV. These carcinomas generally do not express the latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1), the major known EBV oncogene. Recently, another EBV gene [ie., BARF1 (BamHI A rightward open reading frame)] was shown to have transforming and immortalizing capacities. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the expression of BARF1 in EBV-carrying gastric adenocarcinomas in relation to the expression of other latent EBV transcripts. In the present study, 10 of 132 gastric adenocarcinomas tested positive for EBV using EBER1/2-RNA in situ hybridization. We demonstrate BARF1 gene transcription in nine EBV-carrying gastric adenocarcinomas (with sufficient RNA quality) using the BARF1-specific nucleic acid sequence-based amplification assay. In addition, we also detected other latent EBV transcripts (ie., BARF0-, LMP2A-, and Q/K-driven EBNA1 transcripts in these carcinomas using reverse transcription-PCR analysis. No expression of LMP1, EBNA2, and ZEBRA (either at transcription or protein level) was found. In addition, two cases were positive for BHRF1 transcripts, the viral bcl-2 homologue. Thus, together with BARF1 transcription, a unique and distinct EBV latency type has been found in EBV-associated gastric adenocarcinomas. Because BARF1 exerts immortalizing effects on human epithelial cells in vitro and EBV-carrying gastric adenocarcinomas lack the expression of LMP1, the BARF1 gene might act as the viral oncogene in EBV-carrying gastric carcinomas. The BARF1 gene offers an alternative way for EBV-mediated oncogenesis other than LMP1.

206 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Distinct clinicopathologic and genetic pathways exist in gastric LELCs, in which EBV may play a more important role than H. pylori infection, providing additional evidence of etiological and genetic heterogeneity for GC.

135 citations