Aspirin protects against gastric cancer: results of a case-control study from Moscow, Russia.

A case-control study of stomach cancer which includes 448 cases and 610 hospital controls has been conducted in Moscow, Russia. Information on life-style habits, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, diet, medical history and use of different medications including aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) was collected using a self-administered structured questionnaire. Venous blood was drawn from 361 cases and 441 controls. A serological test for Helicobacter pylori immunoglobulin G was performed to detect infected individuals. Use of aspirin and other NSAIDs was associated with protection against cancer of the stomach (OR = 0.60, 95% CI 0.41-0.90). Analysis by subsite revealed that aspirin did not affect the risk of cancer of the gastric cardia but had a protective effect for non-cardia gastric cancer. The OR associated with use of aspirin adjusted for age and education for both sexes combined was 0.49 (95% CI 0.31-0.77). A decrease in relative risk was statistically significant for men (OR = 0.48, 95% CI 0.25-0.92) and women (OR = 0.52, 95% CI 0.28-0.97). Controlling for major risk factors did not attenuate the reduction in risk. The observed associations were also present in individuals who were H. pylori immunoglobulin G-positive. There was no reduction in risk associated with aspirin and/or non-aspirin NSAIDs among non-infected subjects.

Detection of oncogenic HPV DNA by a consensus polymerase chain reaction method in genital carcinomas in twenty women in Barbados.

Paraffinized tissue from Barbadian women with histologically proven genital carcinoma was subjected to a consensus polymerase chain reaction method. Nineteen patients had cervical and one, vaginal carcinoma. The histological types were 17 squamous cell carcinoma, 2 adenocarcinoma and 1 adenosquamous carcinoma. HPV DNA was detected in 18/20 (90%). HPV DNA type 16 in 13 (65%), type 33 and type 45 in 1 (5%) each and 3 (15%) could not be typed. HPV DNA, type 16, was detected in one (50%) of the two cases of adenocarcinoma and 12/17 (71%) cases of squamous cell carcinoma. DNA HPV, type 33, and type 45 were each detected in 1/17 (6%) cases of squamous cell carcinoma. No HPV DNA, type 18, was detected.

Prevalence of serum IgG antibodies for the E7 and L2 proteins of human papillomavirus type 16 in cervical cancer patients and controls.

Relationship between the prevalence of the antibodies to HPV16E7 and L2 proteins and the development of cervical cancer was examined. Sera from 57 patients with invasive cervical cancer and from 200 age-matched healthy blood donors (16 to 64 years old) were examined for antibodies against E7 and L2 proteins of human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16. Bacterially expressed fusion antigens were used in a Western immunoblot assay. Ten (18%) of the patients and 10 (5%) of the controls were positive for only E7. Each eighteen of the patients (32%) and of the controls (9%) were positive for only L2. Three of the patients and 2 of the controls were positive for both E7 and L2 antibody reactivity. The patients' prevalence of antibodies for the E7 and L2 proteins was significantly higher than that of the controls (E7: chi 2 = 14.3, p < 0.01; L2: chi 2 = 23.8, p < 0.01). On the other hand, neither sex specific difference in the antibody prevalence was observed, nor was there any difference in the antibody prevalence with age. Our findings indicate that antibodies to the HPV16L2 proteins could be a parameter for cervical cancer development as well as those to the HPV16E7 proteins.