Comment on “Gastric cancer and family history”

We have read with great interest the paper written by Choi and Kim [1] entitled “Gastric cancer and family history” recently published in Korean Journal of Internal Medicine. In this review, authors discussed the relative risk of gastric cancer in subjects with a family history of the disease. However, some forgotten points in this paper should be addressed here to clarify any new suggestion in the management of gastric cancer. Authors state that “To date, no specific single nucleotide polymorphism has been shown to be associated with familial clustering of gastric cancer.” In an unpublished data, we have found a strong association between matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP9) polymorphisms and multiple family histories of gastric cancer. In parallel with our findings, Okada et al. [2] reported a same significant association between MMP9 polymorphisms and history of gastric cancer in families. However, these two different populations (Iran and Japan) where gastric cancer rates are relatively high, showed the almost same hint about mysterious links of gastric malignancies and certain genetic variations [3-5]. Thus, it can be concluded that clinicians can rely on specific gene polymorphism as a predictive tool in order to screen and treat high-risk patients. Despite this constructive and criticism, we know that authors presented an extensive and comprehensive review on gastric cancer and possibility of its screening in family members. It has been firmly declared that gastric cancer is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. Thus, any new dimension to managing better this complex disease is welcomed. In conclusion, the given evidence about the association between MMP9 polymorphisms and history of gastric cancer in families are very weak.