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Updated: Jun 25, 2025

Genome-Wide Analysis of DNA Methylation in Gastrointestinal Cancer
Published on: September 18, 2020
Molecular Pathology of Gastroesophageal Cancer
Matthew D Stachler1, Ramon U Jin2
1Department of Pathology, University of California San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Avenue HSW450B, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Abstract:
Upper gastroesophageal carcinomas consist of cancers arising from the esophagus and stomach. Squamous cell carcinomas and adenocarcinomas are seen in the esophagus and despite arising from the same organ have different biology. Gastric adenocarcinomas are categorized into 4 molecular subtypes: high Epstein-Barr virus load, microsatellite unstable cancers, chromosomal unstable (CIN) cancers, and genomically stable cancers. Genomically stable gastric cancers correlate highly with histologically defined diffuse-type cancers. Esophageal carcinomas and CIN gastric cancers often are driven by high-level amplifications of oncogenes and contain a high degree of intratumoral heterogeneity. Targeted therapeutics is an active area of research for gastroesophageal cancers.
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