The aim of the present study was to elucidate the etiological roles of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in the development of EBV-associated GC (EBV-GC), EBV-GCs and non EBV-GCs were compared with regard to the expression of thymidine phosphorylase (TP), which is known to have angiogenic activity in various tumor tissues.
Patients and methods: TP expression was examined by immunohistochemistry assay among 156 gastric carcinoma cases (21 EBV-GC cases and 135 non EBV-GC cases).
Results: The frequency of tumors with TP expression was nearly twice as high in EBV-GCs (71%) than in non EBV-GCs (37%) (p=0.005). However, such an association was only observed in Lauren's diffuse-type tumors.
Conclusion: Our finding suggests that the mechanism involved in TP expression of gastric carcinoma appears to be different in intestinal- and diffuse-type tumors.