Somatostatin Methylation as a Biomarker for Gastric Cancer: Ready for “Prime Time” or for Further Validation?

Excerpt

Gastric cancer remains the fourth leading cancer in worldwide incidence, and the second leading cause of cancer-related death. Therefore, it continues to be a global healthcare problem. Infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), a class one carcinogen according to the World Health Organization classification, is believed to be one of the major underlying risk factors for this disease. Nonetheless, other risk factors such as high-salt diet, lack of fruit intake and genetics of the host and H. pylori are all factors that interplay together to dictate the outcome in a population. This complexity continues to challenge our understanding of the biology of this devastating cancer [1, 2]. Over the past few decades, there has been a steady decline in the incidence of H. pylori infection in the United States and many Western countries. Notably, as this trend continues, there has been a significant decline in the overall incidence of noncardia gastric cancer. In the last decade, tremendous gains have been made for a better understanding of the molecular basis underlying the neoplastic transformation of the gastric epithelial cells; however, the precise molecular mechanisms operational in this disease still remain elusive. Nonetheless, in light of current epidemiological and scientific evidence, there is a general consensus that gastric carcinogenesis is a multistep process that requires equal participation of not only genetic events, but frequent involvement of epigenetic alterations as well. …