Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)-associated Gastric Carcinoma.docVIP

Viruses 2012, 4, 3420-3439; doi:10.3390/v4123420 OPEN ACCESS viruses ISSN 1999-4915 /journal/viruses Review Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)-associated Gastric Carcinoma Hisashi Iizasa 1, ?, Asuka Nanbo 2, ?, Jun Nishikawa 3, Masahisa Jinushi 4 and Hironori Yoshiyama 4,* 1 Division of Stem Cell Biology, Institute for Genetic Medicine, Hokkaido University, N15 W7, Kita- ku, Sapporo 060-0815, Japan; E-Mail:iizasah@igm.hokudai.ac.jp 2 Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hokkaido University, N12 W6, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060- 0812, Japan; E-Mail:nanboa@pharm.hokudai.ac.jp 3 Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Minami-Kogushi 1-1-1, Ube, Yamaguchi 755-8505, Japan; E-Mail: junnis@yamaguchi-u.ac.jp 4 Research Center for Infection-Associated Cancer, Institute for Genetic Medicine, Hokkaido University, N15 W7, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0815, Japan; E-Mails:jinushi@igm.hokudai.ac.jp (J.M.); hironori@igm.hokudai.ac.jp (H.Y.) ? These authors contributed equally to this work. * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: hironori@igm.hokudai.ac.jp; Tel.: +81-11-706-6073; Fax: +81-11-706-6071. Received: 22 October 2012; in revised form: 22 November 2012 / Accepted: 26 November 2012 / Published: 29 November 2012 Abstract: The ubiquitous Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is associated with several human tumors, which include lymphoid and epithelial malignancies. It is known that EBV persistently infects the memory B cell pool of healthy individuals by activating growth and survival signaling pathways that can contribute to B cell lymphomagenesis. Although the monoclonal proliferation of EBV-infected cells can be observed in epithelial tumors, such as nasopharyngeal carcinoma and EBV-associated gastric carcinoma, the precise role of EBV in the carcinogenic progress is not fully understood. This review features characteristics and current understanding of EBV