Low prevalence of latently Epstein-Barr virus-infected cells in chronic gastritis

The association of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) with a proportion of gastric ca rcinomas is well established. The role of EBV in conditions predisposing to carcinoma such as chronic gastritis has remained undefined, however. We us ed in situ hybridization with radioactive and nonradioactive single-strande d RNA probes specific for the EBV small latent nuclear transcripts, EBER1 a nd EBER2, to analyze biopsy specimens from 242 patients with mild to severe chronic gastritis of Sydney classification types A, B, and C. A small numb er of EBV infected lymphocytes was detected in only nine cases, even in bio psies investigated with radioactive probes. Labeling of epithelial or strom al cells was not observed. The paucity of latently EBV-infected cells in ch ronic gastritis biopsies differs from the previously reported higher preval ence of virus carrying cells in inflammatory conditions at other sites of t he gastrointestinal tract. These findings argue against a direct involvemen t of EBV in the pathogenesis of chronic gastritis. The low prevalence of EB V-positive cells suggests that local factors do not favor the entry and ret ention of circulating EBV-infected lymphocytes in gastric mucosa. Moreover, our findings indicate that EBV infection of gastric epithelial cells is no t an early event in gastric carcinogenesis. Microsc. Res. Tech. 53: 409-413 , 2001. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.