ISSN:
1365-2559
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) has been demonstrated in about 10% of gastric carcinomas. However, the pathogenetic role of EBV in gastric carcinoma is uncertain. We compared the rate of apoptotic cell death, cell proliferation and the expression of apoptosis-related proteins in gastric carcinomas with or without EBV.〈section xml:id="abs1-2"〉〈title type="main"〉Methods and resultsEpstein–Barr virus was detected in 40 gastric carcinomas by EBV-encoded small RNA-1 in-situ hybridization. Apoptotic cell death, MIB-1, p53, bcl-2 and bcl-x were examined by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl-mediated dUTP-nick end labelling method and immunohistochemistry. We also included 40 age-, sex- and disease stage-matched EBV-negative cases as a control. The number of apoptotic cells was significantly lower in EBV-positive (20 ± 15.1/1000 cells) and bcl-2-positive (17 ± 12.9/1000 cells) tumours than in EBV-negative (43 ± 37.1) and bcl-2-negative tumours (38 ± 32.1, P 〈 0.001, P 〈 0.001, respectively). bcl-2 immunostaining was significantly higher in EBV-positive tumours (24 cases) than in EBV-negative tumours (12 cases, P 〈 0.05). There was no significant difference in bcl-x and p53 expression between EBV-positive and -negative tumours. The number of MIB-1-positive cells in EBV-positive tumours (237 ± 161/1000) was significantly lower than in EBV-negative tumours (480 ± 208/1000 cells, P 〈 0.001).〈section xml:id="abs1-3"〉〈title type="main"〉ConclusionsA low rate of apoptosis and high bcl-2 expression were recognized in EBV-positive gastric carcinomas, suggesting that bcl-2 protein is the main inhibitor of apoptosis in EBV-positive carcinomas. In addition, the low apoptotic and proliferative activities may reflect a low biological activity in EBV-positive gastric carcinomas.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2559.1999.00686.x
