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

The association of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) with a proportion of gastric carcinomas is well established. The role of EBV in conditions predisposing to carcinoma such as chronic gastritis has remained undefined, however. We used in situ hybridization with radioactive and nonradioactive single-stranded RNA probes specific for the EBV small latent nuclear transcripts, EBER1 and EBER2, to analyze biopsy specimens from 242 patients with mild to severe chronic gastritis of Sydney classification types A, B, and C. A small number of EBV infected lymphocytes was detected in only nine cases, even in biopsies investigated with radioactive probes. Labeling of epithelial or stromal cells was not observed. The paucity of latently EBV-infected cells in chronic gastritis biopsies differs from the previously reported higher prevalence of virus carrying cells in inflammatory conditions at other sites of the gastrointestinal tract. These findings argue against a direct involvement of EBV in the pathogenesis of chronic gastritis. The low prevalence of EBV-positive cells suggests that local factors do not favor the entry and retention of circulating EBV-infected lymphocytes in gastric mucosa. Moreover, our findings indicate that EBV infection of gastric epithelial cells is not an early event in gastric carcinogenesis.