Infrequent overexpression of p53 protein in Epstein-Barr virus-associated gastric carcinomas.
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection was studied in a total of 412 patients with poorly differentiated gastric adenocarcinoma by in situ hybridization for EBV-encoded small RNA. EBV-specific RNA was detected in tumor cell nuclei of 83 (20.1%) of 412 gastric carcinomas, of which 60 were histologically subclassified as gastric carcinoma with lymphoid stroma (GCLS). All EBV-positive gastric carcinomas as well as 90 randomly selected EBV-negative gastric carcinomas were further studied for p53 protein expression by immunohistochemistry. The overexpression of p53 protein was demonstrated in only 7 (8.4%) of 83 EBV-positive gastric carcinomas. This was in marked contrast to the frequency of 34.4% in EBV-negative gastric carcinomas. In addition, a few p53-positive nuclei were characteristically scattered in the tumors of many EBV-positive GCLS, but this was not regarded as p53 overexpression arising from mutation of the gene. Our findings suggested that EBV-associated gastric carcinomas may arise through a different mechanism from other types of gastric carcinomas without EBV infection.
Ojima
H
H
First Department of Surgery, Gunma University School of Medicine, Maebashi.
Fukuda
T
T
Nakajima
T
T
Nagamachi
Y
Y
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D016158:Genes, p53; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000096:biosynthesis*
C099537:Epstein-Barr virus encoded RNA 1; D012367:RNA, Viral; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53