Unlabelled: PIK3CA is the second most mutated gene in cancer leading to aberrant PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling and increased translation, proliferation, and survival. Some 4%-25% of gastric cancers display activating PIK3CA mutations, including 80% of Epstein-Barr virus-associated GCs. Small molecules, including pan-PI3K and dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitors, have shown moderate success clinically, due to broad on-target/off-tissue effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEpstein-Barr-virus-associated Gastric Cancer (EBVaGC) comprises approximately 10% of global gastric cancers and is known to be the most hypermethylated of all tumor types. EBV infection has been shown to directly induce the hypermethylation of both the host and viral genome following initial infection of gastric epithelial cells. Many studies have been completed in an attempt to identify genes that frequently become hypermethylated and therefore significant pathways that become silenced to promote tumorigenesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDeciphering the molecular pathogenesis of virally induced cancers is challenging due, in part, to the heterogeneity of both viral gene expression and host gene expression. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a ubiquitous herpesvirus prevalent in B-cell lymphomas of immune-suppressed individuals. EBV infection of primary human B cells leads to their immortalization into lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs), serving as a model of these lymphomas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEpstein-Barr Virus (EBV) was the first discovered human tumor virus and is the etiological agent of B cell lymphomas and also epithelial cancers. Indeed, nearly 10% of gastric cancers worldwide are EBV-positive and display unique molecular, epigenetic, and clinicopathological features. EBV-positive gastric cancers display the highest rate of host genome methylation of all tumor types studied and harbor recurrent mutations activating PI3Kα, silencing ARID1A, and amplifying PD-L1.
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