Detection of JC Virus T-Ag in Early Gastric Cancer

Jang, Eun Jeong; Jang, Jung Sik; Kim, Jae Hoon; Bae, Han Ik; Suh, In Soo

Abstract

BACKGROUND
JC virus (JCV) is a polyomavirus that commonly infects humans and can cause progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in immunocompromised patients. Recently, many reports have documented detection of JCV in gastrointestinal tract cancers. We investigated the presence of JCV in gastric adenocarcinoma, adenoma, and non-neoplastic gastric mucosa.
METHODS
We selected paraffin-embedded tissue from endoscopic mucosal resections performed from January 2007 to September 2008. DNA was extracted from the paraffin-embedded specimens of 30 adenocarcinomas, 20 adenomas of the stomach, and 20 non-neoplastic gastric mucosa. Polymerase chain reaction amplifications were performed using gene-specific primers to detect the JCV gene sequences, and immunohistochemical staining was performed to detect the T-antigen (T-Ag) protein.
RESULTS
The T-Ag sequence was detected in nine of 30 gastric cancers (30%), two of 20 adenomas (10%), and eight of 20 non-neoplastic gastric mucosa specimens (40%). T-Ag protein expression was found in five of 30 gastric cancers (16.7%) and one of 20 non-neoplastic gastric mucosa specimens (5%), whereas no expression was observed in any of the adenomas.
CONCLUSIONS
Although we could not detect a correlation between JCV and gastric cancer, we demonstrated the presence of JCV T-Ag expression in human gastric cancers. These findings suggest a possible role for JCV in gastric carcinogenesis.