Occurrence of Helicobacter pylori and Epstein-Barr virus infection in endoscopic and gastric cancer patients from Northern Brazil

BMC Gastroenterol. 2014 Oct 15:14:179. doi: 10.1186/1471-230X-14-179.

Abstract

Background: Helicobacter pylori (HP) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) have been associated with cancer development. We evaluated the prevalence of HP, HP CagA+ and EBV infection in gastric cancer (GC) samples from adults and in gastric tissues from patients who underwent upper endoscopy (UE).

Methods: Samples from UE and GC were collected to investigate the presence of HP infection and the HP virulence factor CagA by a urease test and PCR. The presence of EBV was detected by Eber-1 in situ hybridization.

Results: In UE, 85.5% of juvenile patients showed some degree of gastritis (45.3% of patients with mild gastritis and 54.7% with moderate/severe gastritis) and patients with mild gastritis were younger than patients with moderate/severe gastritis. Among adults, 48.7% presented mild gastritis and 51.3% moderate/severe gastritis. HP infection was detected in 0% of normal mucosa, 58.5% of juvenile gastritis patients, 69.2% of adult gastritis patients and 88% of GC patients. In these same groups, HP CagA+ was detected in 0%, 37.7%, 61.5% and 67.2% of tissue samples, respectively. In juvenile patients, HP infection was more common in those with gastritis than in normal samples (p = 0.004). The patients with either HP or HP CagA+ were older than patients without these pathogens (p < 0.05). In juvenile patients, HP infection was more frequent in cases of moderate/severe gastritis than in cases of mild gastritis (p = 0.026). Moreover, in patients with GC, HP infection was more frequent in males than in females (p = 0.023). GC patients with HP CagA+ were older than patients with HP CagA- (p = 0.027). HP CagA+ was more common in intestinal-type than diffuse-type GC (p = 0.012). HP CagA+ was also associated with lymph-node (p = 0.024) and distal (p = 0.005) metastasis. No association between EBV infection and HP infection or any clinicopathological variable was detected.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that HP is involved in the pathophysiology of severe gastric lesions and in the development of GC, particularly when CagA+ is present. EBV was not the primary pathogenic factor in our samples.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Antigens, Bacterial / analysis
  • Bacterial Proteins / analysis
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Epstein-Barr Virus Infections / diagnosis*
  • Epstein-Barr Virus Infections / pathology
  • Gastritis / diagnosis*
  • Gastritis / pathology
  • Gastroscopy
  • Helicobacter Infections / diagnosis*
  • Helicobacter Infections / pathology
  • Helicobacter pylori* / isolation & purification
  • Herpesvirus 4, Human / isolation & purification
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Middle Aged
  • Stomach / chemistry
  • Stomach / microbiology
  • Stomach Neoplasms / microbiology*
  • Stomach Neoplasms / pathology
  • Stomach Neoplasms / virology
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Antigens, Bacterial
  • Bacterial Proteins
  • cagA protein, Helicobacter pylori