BACKGROUND Gastric cancer (GC) remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide, even though a decline has been observed in its incidence and the mortality rate in recent decades. Gastric carcinogenesis is a complex phenomena involving multiple epigenetic and genetic factors; several genetic, environmental and infectious agents interact causing a cumulative effect in the ear...

MicroRNA-196a (miRNA-196a) is associated with the development of gastric cancer and metastasis. Intestinal metaplasia and low- or high-grade dysplasia are considered to be precursors of intestinal type gastric cancer. Accordingly, we investigated the expression of plasma miRNA-196a as an early detection biomarker in precancerous gastric lesions and early cancer (pT1a/b), which is otherwise trea...

A prospective study with two gastric biopsies taken several years apart was carried out in 1 1 7 subjects with intestinal metaplasia who are of the Lewis(a-b+) phenotype. They are residents of a rural Andean region in Colombia displaying very high rates of gastric cancer. The anamalous expression of Lewisa antigens in the metaplastic epithelium carried a significantly increased risk of colonic ...

BACKGROUND Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is the most common chronic infectious agent in the stomach. Most importantly, it may lead to atrophy, metaplasia and cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of H. pylori infection and to detect early mucosal changes that may lead to malignant degeneration in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS Children who underwent upper gastroint...

OBJECTIVES To determine if histopathologic assessment of esophageal biopsies harvested for research study is justified due to the heterogeneity of tissues in the esophagus, and the consequent histopathologic mis-matches with the clinical histopathology of biopsies taken at the same level. METHODS Since 2004, patients undergoing upper endoscopy for a variety of clinical conditions were invited...

Cancer stem cells (CSC) are unique subpopulations that have the capacity to drive malignant progression and mediate radio/chemoresistance. The role of nestin as a CSC marker in gastric adenocarcinoma is largely unknown. Our objective was to evaluate immunoexpression of CSC markers CD44 and nestin in gastric adenocarcinoma versus non-neoplastic gastric mucosae (NNGM) and correlate it with variou...

BACKGROUND Previous research has identified a high risk of gastric carcinoma as well as a high prevalence of cancer precursor lesions in rural populations living in the province of Nariño, Colombia, in the Andes Mountains. METHODS A randomized, controlled chemoprevention trial was conducted in subjects with confirmed histologic diagnoses of multifocal nonmetaplastic atrophy and/or intestinal ...

AIM To test the contribution of programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4) tumour suppressor gene in Barrett's carcinogenesis. METHODS PDCD4 immunohistochemical expression was assessed in 88 biopsy samples obtained from histologically proven long-segment Barrett's mucosa (BM; 25 non-intestinal columnar metaplasia, 25 intestinal metaplasia (IM), 16 low-grade intraepithelial neoplasia (LG-IEN), 12 high-gr...