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Gastric Cancer Registry Completes Major Data Expansion
In 2021, the Gastric Cancer Foundation granted $257,856 to fund an expansion of the Gastric Cancer Registry (GCR) at Stanford University, which helped fuel several milestones. The registry’s researchers have since completed the genomic sequencing of 175 gastric tumor samples, providing a wealth of data to users of the GCR Genome Explorer, a HIPAA-compliant online portal scientists can use to review the molecular features of stomach tumors.
“We’re now able to provide information about gastric cancer that isn’t available from any other source,” says principal investigator Hanlee Ji, MD, Professor of Medicine at Stanford.
Most of the gastric tumor samples that Ji’s team were able to sequence over the past year came from the Intermountain Healthcare Biorepository, which provided the GCR with samples from 154 gastric cancer patients. Additional samples came from patients who enrolled in the GCR between 2011 and 2021 and provided tumor samples.

The researchers are taking a “multi-omics” approach by sequencing the whole genome, whole exome, and transcriptome from each sample. Using bioinformatics, the research team sifts through raw sequencing data to extract highly valuable and informative characteristics of gastric tumors. These features are available to the biomedical research community through the GCR Genome Explorer.
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Research Roundup
A growing number of researchers are focusing on how patients’ demographic characteristics and life experiences may impact gastric cancer prevention and treatment. Some factors that have been spotlighted in the scientific literature recently include:

Ethnic background: Overall death rates from gastric cancer have declined among Hispanics and Latinos over the last two decades, but targeted prevention methods are still required in some countries, a study published in The Lancet concluded. In the U.S., for example, the most common type of gastric cancer among Hispanic/Latino populations can be linked to H. Pylori bacterial infections, suggesting that detecting and eradicating the bug early in life could be an effective prevention measure.

Previous illness: A study published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology concluded that a significant proportion of gastric cancers can be linked to Epstein-Barr virus, a common cause of mononucleosis, which is an infectious virus common among teenagers and young adults. The researchers hypothesized that the virus affects gene expression in the stomach, causing malignant transformation. They advocated for the development of an Epstein-Barr vaccine.

Age: A new protocol called Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS), is a strategy that aims to improve surgery outcomes through carbohydrate loading prior to surgery and multiple methods of pain control and mobilization after. Researchers in China reported that the method is safe in elderly gastric cancer patients and leads to shorter hospital stays.
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