Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 28, 2014; 20(28): 9600-9610
Published online Jul 28, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i28.9600
Gene-diet interactions in gastric cancer risk: A systematic review
Jeongseon Kim, Young Ae Cho, Wook Jin Choi, Seung Hwa Jeong
Jeongseon Kim, Young Ae Cho, Wook Jin Choi, Seung Hwa Jeong, Molecular Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention, Research Institute, National Cancer Center, Goyang-si 410-769, South Korea
Author contributions: Kim J and Cho YA designed research paper; Kim J, Cho YA, Choi WJ and Jeong SH performed and analyzed data; Kim J, Cho YA and Choi WJ wrote the paper; Kim J and Cho YA revised the paper.
Supported by A grant from the National Cancer Center, South Korea, No. 1110300 and No. 1410260
Correspondence to: Jeongseon Kim, PhD, Molecular Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention, Research Institute, National Cancer Center, 323 Ilsan-ro, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang-si 410-769, South Korea. jskim@ncc.re.kr
Telephone: +82-31-9202570 Fax: +82-31-9202579
Received: October 28, 2013
Revised: February 17, 2014
Accepted: May 23, 2014
Published online: July 28, 2014
Processing time: 271 Days and 0.3 Hours
Abstract

AIM: To conduct a systematic review of the published epidemiological studies investigating the association of the interactions between gene variants and dietary intake with gastric cancer risk.

METHODS: A literature search was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, and MEDLINE for articles published between January 2000 and July 2013, and 38 studies were identified. Previous studies included various dietary factors (e.g., fruits and vegetables, soybean products, salt, meat, and alcohol) and genetic variants that are involved in various metabolic pathways.

RESULTS: Studies suggest that individuals who carry high-risk genetic variants and demonstrate particular dietary habits may have an increased risk of gastric cancer compared with those who do not carry high-risk genetic variants. Distinctive dietary patterns and variations in the frequency of genetic variants may explain the higher incidence of gastric cancer in a particular region. However, most previous studies have limitations, such as a small sample size and a retrospective case-control design. In addition, past studies have been unable to elucidate the specific mechanism in gene-diet interaction associated with gastric carcinogenesis.

CONCLUSION: Additional large prospective epidemiological and experimental studies are required to identify the gene-diet metabolic pathways related to gastric cancer susceptibility.

Keywords: Gastric cancer; Gene; Diet; Interaction

Core tip: Gene-diet interactions related to gastric carcinogenesis may provide a unique environment for cancer growth or suppression in each individual. Gene-diet interactions may explain the large variation in gastric cancer incidence in different populations and the inconsistent findings of previous gene or diet studies. Therefore, this review provides an overview of the published epidemiological studies that have investigated the interactions between gene variants and dietary factors associated with gastric cancer risk.