[Observations on the relation of gastric carcinoma to Epstein-Barr virus].

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been detected in the tumor cells of some cases of gastric carcinoma. The monoclonal expansion of EBV contained in tumor cells and increased serum antibody titers suggest that gastric carcinoma may be associated with EBV infection. It has been known for many years that EBV is associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma which has a high incidence rate in China. The relation of EBV infection to gastric carcinoma is not clear. 110 cases of gastric carcinoma of Chinese patients were studied by use of EBV encoded small RNA (EBER-1) in situ hybridization. EBV was detected in 3 of the 49 cases (6.1%) from Shenyang in north China and 1 of the 61 cases (1.6%) from Changsha in south China. The EBV positive rate in gastric carcinoma of Chinese is not as high as it is in Americans and Japanese.