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Distribution of the Epstein‐Barr virus in the normal stomach and gastric lesions in Thai population

The Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV) is one of the infectious agents found in stomach tissue. Recently, EBV‐associated gastric carcinoma (EBVaGC) was classified as a new subtype of gastric carcinoma. To date, there is a lack of knowledge about the distribution and prevalence of EBV infection in both the normal stomach and various gastric lesions, including EBVaGC, in the Thai population. In this study, we detected EBV in the normal stomach (NS; n = 19), chronic gastritis (CG; n = 36), intestinal metaplasia (IM; n = 40), gastric dysplasia (GD; n = 15), and gastric adenocarcinoma (GC; n = 33) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the latent membrane protein (LMP1) gene of EBV. EBV‐PCR amplification was positive in 42.1%, 36.1%, 22.5%, 13.3%, and 33.3% of NS, CG, IM, GD, and GC, respectively. For further clarification in EBVaGC, we performed EBV‐encoded small RNA in situ hybridization (EBER‐ISH) in PCR‐positive cases of GD and GC. Four GC cases were EBER‐ISH positive (12.1%), while both GD cases were EBER‐ISH negative. In addition, we determined the distribution of the EBV strain (type A or B) based on EBNA3C sequence and EBV variants based on LMP1 variation (wild‐type and 30‐bp deletion variants; wt‐LMP1 or del‐LMP1). The results showed that type A and wt‐LMP1 were the most prevalent in all lesions. In conclusion, EBV is common in both the NS and gastric lesions, and the frequency of EBVaGC was 12.1% in Thai patients.