Adenocarcinoma gástrico asociado con el virus de Epstein-Barr en Cali

Abstract

Ninety nine consecutives cases of gastric adenocarcinoma from the Hospital Universitario del Valle Department of Pathology at Cali, Colombia, were tested to search for Epstein-Barr virus in the malignant epithelial cell by in situ hybridization for EBV-encoded small non-polyadenylated RNA-1 (EBER-1). The material included 66 males (median age: 62 years) and 33 females (median age: 60 years). There were 46 intestinal type of gastric adenocarcinoma and 53 of the diffuse type, with no lymphoepithelioma-like cases. Ten patients were positive for EBV (10.1 %), 9 males and 1 female. The positive cases were 5 intestinal and 5 diffuse types. Our study and those other done in the whole world show that EBV is etiologically associated with at least 10% among all gastric adenocarcinomas. Further studies will be necessary to understand the interaction between EBV and epithelial gastric cell and the relationship with other agents implicated in gastric carcinogenesis. © 1999 Corporación Editora Médica del Valle.