| Mucosal infection ( Helicobacter pylori and EBV) and chronic inflammation contributes to the development of gastric cancer. We are studying genetic susceptibility and environmental factors as an integrated model of gastric carcinogenesis. A large multi-centre prospective European cohort is being studied. The Laboratory of Immunogenetics contributes with large scale genotyping of cytokine gene polymorphisms. Other European Laboratories study the contribution of other genes involved in mucosa protection, oxidative damage, DNA repair, oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes. Our research group also focuses on pre-malignant lesions such as peptic ulcer. We study clinical inflammation scores, the presence of H. pylori infection, predisposing bacterial factors, cag/vac status, and host gene polymorphisms in relation to susceptibility and severity of peptic ulcer. |
