Meta-analysis shows that prevalence of Epstein-Barr virus-positive gastric cancer differs based on sex and anatomic location.

ABSTRACT:

Background & aims

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been causally associated with cancer; some gastric carcinomas have a monoclonal EBV genome in every cancer cell, indicating that they arose from a single infected progenitor cell. However, the proportion of EBV-positive gastric carcinomas is uncertain, and the etiologic significance is unknown.

Methods

We conducted a meta-analysis of 70 studies including 15,952 cases of gastric cancer assessed by in situ hybridization for EBV-encoded small RNA.

Results

The pooled prevalence estimate of EBV positivity was 8.7% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 7.5%-10.0%) overall, with a 2-fold difference by sex: 11.1% (95% CI: 8.7%-14.1%) of gastric cancer cases in males vs 5.2% (95% CI: 3.6%-7.4%) of cases in females. Tumors arising in the

SUBMITTER: Murphy G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3513767 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature