Interviews
Seven out of ten Chileans should have an endoscopy to prevent gastric cancer
- October 5, 2023
- Publicado por: ACCDIS
- Category: News
Expert says seventy percent of the country's population is infected with H. Pylori. Gastric cancer causes more than 3,000 deaths per year in our territory.
Yearly, gastric cancer causes the death of more than three thousand people in Chile, becoming one of the main causes of mortality from malignant tumors in the country.
The mechanisms involved in its development and potential therapies to deal with it will be one of the main topics at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Chile, that is being developed in La Serena. The activity brings together scientists from various universities and research centers in the country, as well as foreign guests.
One of the speakers is Dr. Andrew Quest in Biochemistry, Director of the Center for Practicing Studies, Metabolism and Cancer (CEMC), who has focused part of his work on describing and understanding the mechanism by which the bacterium Helicobacter Pylori (H. Pylori) infects gastric cells and causes, of this mode, Cancer in the stomach.
His research aims to develop effective and non-invasive tools for the early diagnosis and treatment of early-stage disease using nanotechnology.
"Gastric cancer is one of the leading causes of death from malignant tumors in the world and particularly in Chile. So far, two main types have been described, Histologically distinguishable: diffuse and intestinal. In the first case, The main culprits are gene mutations; in the second, infection with H bacteria. Pylori is considered the main risk factor associated with the development of the disease", explains.
Highest mortality rate in Latin America
Between 2002 and 2017, according to figures from the Department of Health Statistics and Information of the Ministry of Health, gastric cancer caused 76,574 hospitalizations and the death of 51,358 people in Chile, with an average age of 70,5 years among the deceased. 65% of those who died were men (34.139).
In 2017, 3,298 people died from the disease, Its onset predominates between the ages of 70 and 80. The mortality rate in the country reaches almost 18 per 100,000 inhabitants, making it the highest in Latin America, where it reaches 6,6.
According to the Pan American Health Organization, more than half of the world's population is infected with H. Pylori, This bacterium causes chronic gastritis and in 15 to 20 percent of cases causes peptic ulcers, MALT-type lymphomas (Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue) and gastric cancer. The latter causes more than one million deaths worldwide and 90% of these tumors are secondary to H infection. Pylori, which is also responsible for cases of iron and vitamin B12 deficiency anemia, and immune thrombocytopenia.
"In Chile, The prevalence of this bacterium is even higher, reaching 70 percent of the population, although a smaller percentage, but that doesn't mean it's insignificant, then develops gastric bowel cancer", says Andrew Quest.
"The presence of cancer in a person can be influenced by a genetic disposition as well as environmental factors, Health & Diet. Anyway, There are several factors that are not clearly defined that favor the onset of this disease.", Complements.
Bacterium, Cancer and antibiotic use
The academic from the University of Chile suggests that people can be infected with H. Pylori at any time in your life, although many times this happens in their childhood.
"Those most exposed are those who live in less favourable social and economic conditions, due to poor hygiene and a weaker sanitation system. There is even the possibility of infection via feces, that somehow make it to the water or food, and so on to people", Dr. Quest says.
Once the person is infected, You can have the bacteria for as long as thirty or forty years until you develop gastric cancer. "In all that time, The microorganism causes damage, maybe small, But it is the accumulation that at some point causes the genesis of cancer.", says the scientist.
The Solution, For now, is the elimination of bacteria via antibiotics. "But before you do this, we have to know if the person wears the H. Pylori, which means undergoing an endoscopy, which is a test that seeks to look at the area of the esophagus, Stomach and duodenum. This is a study that aims to diagnose pathologies that cause problems in the upper digestive tract", says the director of the CEMC.
"The point is, it's a very invasive technique: The person is put to sleep, A catheter is inserted, Samples and pictures are taken from your stomach. In addition, in Chile, since seventy percent of the population has H. Pylori, It would have to be done to practically all of them, or at least to about 14 million people. Then, Endoscopy on 70% of the population is not something the health system can resist.", details.
Regarding the use of antibiotics, Quest says the treatment is very aggressive and becoming less efficient, "Because in the case of Chile, These drugs are used inrationally or intermittently, without strictly following the doctor's prescription, This selects bacteria that are increasingly resistant to antibiotics.".
The professor argues that, in Japan, A country with a high prevalence of gastric cancer, "Endoscopy is simply performed on a large part of the population and, if the person is detected with H. Pylori, You are subjected to pharmacological treatment. But we're talking about a rich country, which is not the case in Chile".
Systemic effects
Dr. Quest's presentation at the symposium is entitled "Local Gastric and Systemic Effects of Helicobacter pylori", which will be exhibited on Wednesday.
"I'm going to give an overview of our research, and show how we have been changing the approach to this bacterium, that produces not only local effects, i.e., in the stomach, but also systemic", explains the researcher at the Advanced Center for Chronic Diseases (ACCDiS ) University of Chile.
In an articlePublished this year byJournal of Neuroinflammation, Quest, in collaboration with Dr. Lisette Leyton, from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Chile and Manuel Valenzuela, of the Central University, nano-sized vesicles produced by H. pylori cross epithelial barriers and enter the central nervous system, thus altering brain cells.
"This bacterium produces vesicles that leave the stomach and reach the circulatory system and also the brain. In this they induce damage, both in glial cells (Support) as in neurons", The scientist details.
"In this work, we established the mechanism by which the bacterium is linked to neurodegenerative diseases. This is a matter of concern for the population, since, the risk of gastric cancer, there is also a risk of exacerbating neurodegenerative pathologies", adds the researcher.
Dr. Wael-el-Rifai will also speak at the symposium (Miami, United States), Vicente Torres (Faculty of dentistry, University of Chile) and Alejandro Corvalán (Faculty of medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile). The international guest is a professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Miami School of Medicine, where he is also associate director of the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.