Review: Gastric cancer: Basic aspects. (12th September 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Resende, Carlos; Gomes, Carla Pereira; Machado, Jose Carlos
• Other Names: Mégraud Francis guestEditor.; Malfertheiner Peter guestEditor.
• Is Part Of: Helicobacter. Volume 25(2020)Supplement 1
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2020-09-12
• Subjects: EBV -- gastric cancer -- immunosurveillance -- immunotherapy -- microsatellite instability -- tumor microenvironment; Helicobacter -- Periodicals; Helicobacter infections -- Periodicals; Stomach -- Diseases -- Periodicals; 616.3301405
• DOI: 10.1111/hel.12739
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1083-4389

Abstract

Abstract: Gastric cancer is still one of the most prevalent and deadliest cancers in the world. Although our knowledge about the disease has progressed extraordinarily, this has not been accompanied by our capacity to effectively treat the disease. In the last years, immunotherapy made its way into the cancer field and was responsible for major changes in the treatment success rates for several cancer types. Although gastric cancer was not among the first successful targets of this type of therapy, the relationship between this type of cancer, immunosurveillance and immunotherapy is now being actively researched. In this article, we review the literature of the past year regarding the relationship between gastric cancer, its immune microenvironment and response to immunotherapy. Published data indicate that the immune microenvironment influences the clinical behaviour of gastric cancer, and is correlated with its histologic and molecular subtypes with an emphasis on the microsatellite‐ and EBV‐positive tumour subgroups. Although the literature regarding response to immunotherapy is scarce, there is good evidence that patient stratification for immunotherapy is going to become a reality in gastric cancer.