Basic aspects of gastric cancer.

Gastric cancer is a worldwide health burden, which is still the second most common cause of cancer related deaths with little improvement of long-term survival during the past decades. Understanding the molecular nature of this disease and its precursor lesions has been under intense investigation and our review attempts to highlight recent progress in this field of cancer research. First, host-related genetic susceptibility is dealt with genes involved in inflammation and carcinogen metabolism. Next, role of overexpression of a proinflammatory cytokine (interleukin-1beta) and deletion of a cell-cell adhesion molecule (E-cadherin) are described in experimental mouse models of gastric carcinogenesis. Finally, the role of stem cells in gastric cancer is covered.