Molecular epidemiology, pathogenesis and prevention of gastric cancer

Cancer of the stomach is one of the most commonly diagnosed malignancies an d remains an important cause of mortality world wide. This type of cancer i s not uniformly distributed among populations but shows a marked variation in both incidence and mortality. Although gastric cancer is declining in ma ny parts of the world, the reasons for this decline are not well understood and its etiology remains unclear. Several factors are suspected to play a role in gastric carcinogenesis, including the effects of diet, exogenous ch emicals, intragastric synthesis of carcinogens, genetic factors, infectious agents and pathological conditions in the stomach (such as gastritis), A n ew look at the results of epidemiological and experimental studies is impor tant for the establishment of strategies for control. Since cancer of the s tomach has a very poor prognosis in its more advanced stages, such a contro l program must have its main focus on primary prevention, This review descr ibes our knowledge about cancer of the stomach regarding epidemiology, path ogenesis and prevention.