Published online Apr 28, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i16.4503
Revised: January 23, 2014
Accepted: March 12, 2014
Published online: April 28, 2014
Latin America shows one of the highest incidence rates of gastric cancer in the world, with variations in mortality rates among nations or even within countries belonging to this region. Gastric cancer is the result of a multifactorial complex process, for which a multistep model of carcinogenesis is currently accepted. Additionally to the infection with Helicobacter pylori, that plays a major role, environmental factors as well as genetic susceptibility factors are significant players at different stages in the gastric cancer process. The differences in population origin, demographic structure, socio-economic development, and the impact of globalization lifestyles experienced in Latin America in the last decades, all together offer opportunities for studying in this context the influence of genetic polymorphisms in the susceptibility to gastric cancer. The aim of this article is to discuss current trends on gastric cancer in Latin American countries and to review the available published information about studies of association of gene polymorphisms involved in gastric cancer susceptibility from this region of the world. A total of 40 genes or genomic regions and 69 genetic variants, 58% representing markers involved in inflammatory response, have been used in a number of studies in which predominates a low number of individuals (cases and controls) included. Polymorphisms of IL-1B (-511 C/T, 14 studies; -31 T/C, 10 studies) and IL-1RN (variable number of tandem repeats, 17 studies) are the most represented ones in the reviewed studies. Other genetic variants recently evaluated in large meta-analyses and associated with gastric cancer risk were also analyzed in a few studies [e.g., prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA), CDH1, Survivin]. Further and better analysis centered in gene polymorphisms linked to other covariates, epidemiological studies and the information provided by meta-analyses and genome-wide association studies should help to improve our understanding of gastric cancer etiology in order to develop appropriate health programs in Latin America.
Core tip: This article is a review about the current state of art of studies carried out in Latin America using gene polymorphisms to assess gastric cancer susceptibility. Latin America shows one of the highest incidence rates of gastric cancer in the world, with variations in mortality rates among nations or even within countries belonging to this region. Moreover, Latin America is a region with a particular genetic background, high rates of Helicobacter pylori infection and lifestyles condition. This review also gives special emphasis on the importance of the studies conducted in gastric precancerous diseases.