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Quantitative analysis of Epstein–Barr virus DNA in plasma and stomach biopsies of patients with gastric cancer

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Abstract

Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) associated gastric carcinoma (EBVaGC) is a subtype of gastric cancer with distinct histological and molecular features. The study aimed to assess the EBV DNA copy number and the prevalence of EBVaGC in gastric cancer samples taken from Iranian patients. The next aim was to assess whether the DNA and microRNAs EBV are present in plasma. EBV load was analyzed in 68 gastric cancer biopsies and compared with the results of EBV-encoded small RNA in situ hybridization (EBER-ISH) test in these patients. After the detection of 6 EBV miRNAs in gastric tissue by stem-loop RT-PCR, plasma samples were evaluated for the viral load and EBV miRNAs. Four gastric cancer cases were EBER -ISH positive (5.8%), with a significantly higher viral load than the remaining cases, 47,781 vs. 1909 copies/μg of tissue DNA. Here, was also found a significant difference in plasma EBV load between EBER-positive and EBER-negative cases. Although EBV miRNAs were detectable in all the EBER-positive tumors, the test did not detect any of these miRNAs among the plasma samples tested. Our data indicate that the prevalence of EBVaGC among Iranian patients with gastric cancer is lower than the global prevalence and although none of the EBV miRNAs were detected in plasma, evaluation of EBV microRNAs in tumor tissue, especially miR-BART7-3p, may constitute useful biomarkers for diagnosis of EBVaGC.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge Dr Amirnader Emami Razavi, Iran National Tumor Bank, Cancer Biology Research Center, Cancer Institute of Iran, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, for performing in situ hybridization technique.

Funding

This work was supported by the Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences [Grant number: IRGLD-1038]; and the Tarbiat Modares University [Grant number: 1408648], as a part of thesis project for PhD Degree. The funding sources had no sponsors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Virology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

    Behrang Sarshari, Mehrdad Ravanshad & Raziyeh Zareh-Khoshchehreh

  2. Iranian Research Center for HIV/AIDS, Iranian Institute for Reduction of High Risk Behaviors, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Behrang Sarshari

  3. Department of Transplant & Hepatobiliary Surgery, Taleghani Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Amirhassan Rabbani

  4. Food and Drug Administration, Iran Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Tehran, Iran

    Raziyeh Zareh-Khoshchehreh

  5. Basic and Molecular Epidemiology of Gastrointestinal Disorders Research Center, Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Fedra Mokhtari, Binazir Khanabadi, Seyed Reza Mohebbi & Hamid Asadzadeh Aghdaei

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  1. Behrang Sarshari
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Contributions

BS performed the experiments, analysed the data and wrote the manuscript. MR contributed to the final editing. SRM designed the study and revised the manuscript. RZ-K interpreted the data, and substantively revised the manuscript. FM helped perform the experiments. AR and HAA collected the epidemiological and clinical data. BK collected the samples of the included patients. All authors read and approved the final version.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Mehrdad Ravanshad or Seyed Reza Mohebbi.

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Competing interests

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the Ethical Committee of Research Center for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases (Approval number IR.SBMU.RCGLD.REC.1398.001) and was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Edited by Joachim J. Bugert.

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Sarshari, B., Ravanshad, M., Rabbani, A. et al. Quantitative analysis of Epstein–Barr virus DNA in plasma and stomach biopsies of patients with gastric cancer. Virus Genes 59, 351–358 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11262-023-01977-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11262-023-01977-1

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