People in East Asia are more likely to develop a more aggressive type of stomach cancer because they are more likely to be alcohol intolerant, according to a new study led by Japanese researchers.
researchers discoveries, It was published this week in the scientific journal Nature Geneticsdecreased alcohol tolerance is associated with a higher risk of diffuse gastric cancer, a rare type of stomach cancer that affects multiple areas of the stomach.
Dr. William Dahat, Chief Scientific Officer of the American Cancer Society, said: study Collecting cells from approximately 1,500 gastric cancer patients in Japan, China, South Korea, Singapore and the United States is the first broad genomic analysis of gastric cancer.
“There’s an interesting combination between the occurrence of mutations and certain genotypes of East Asians that interfere with alcohol metabolism,” said Daft, who was not involved in the study. more likely to develop certain mutations in the tumor.”
East Asian populations have long been affected by gastric cancer compared to those in Western countries.half of the world’s gastric cancer cases Occurred in Chinaand it is the most common type of cancer among men in Japan. 1.5% of all new cancers Diagnosed annually.
People of East Asian descent are much more likely to inherit genetic mutations that impair their ability to metabolize alcohol, which are not commonly found in other ethnic groups. This is the same mutation that causes the redness of the face after drinking alcohol, often referred to as the “Asian glow”.
Shibata, who heads the Cancer Genomics Division at Japan’s National Cancer Center Research Institute, said he hopes these findings will help researchers detect patterns in the development of stomach cancer.
“We may develop specific methods to detect specific areas and prevent specific cancers,” he said.
Many East Asians can’t process alcohol properly, so it stays in the stomach for a long time, and frequent drinkers are more likely to develop chronic gastritis, according to City of Hope, California. said Ajay Goel, who studies gastrointestinal cancer detection at a medical center. He is not involved in new research.
“It essentially leads to chronic inflammation in the stomach,” Goel said. tends to be higher.”
Stomach cancer cases are also statistically much more common in men than women. increase.Data show that East Asian men consume a lot of alcohol than their female counterparts.
As with any type of cancer, early detection is key to treating stomach cancer. However, stomach cancer is not routinely screened in the United States because it occurs less frequently in the West compared to other types of cancer such as breast, cervical, and colon cancer.
“Information about the power to know one’s own genomics is becoming more and more important,” Dahut said.
