Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2001 Apr;7(2):266-9.
doi: 10.3748/wjg.v7.i2.266.

Mycoplasma infections and different human carcinomas

S Huang  1 , J Y Li, J Wu, L Meng, C C Shou
Affiliations

Mycoplasma infections and different human carcinomas

S Huang et al. World J Gastroenterol. 2001 Apr.

Abstract

Aim: To explore relationships between human carcinomas and mycoplasma infection.

Methods: Monoclonal antibody PD4, which specifically recognizes a distinct protein from mycoplasma hyorhinis, was used to detect mycoplasma infection in different paraffin embedded carcinoma tissues with immunohistochemistry. PCR was applied to amplify the mycoplasma DNA from the positive samples for confirming immunohistochemistry.

Results: Fifty of 90 cases (56%) of gastric carcinoma were positive for mycoplasma hyorhinis. In other gastric diseases, the mycoplasma infection ratio was 28% (18/49) in chronic superficial gastritis, 30% (14/46) in gastric ulcer and 37% (18/49) in intestinal metaplasia. The difference is significant with gastric cancer (chi(2) = 12.06, P < 0.05). In colon carcinoma, the mycoplasma infection ratio was 55.1% (32/58),but it was 20.9% (10/49)in adenomarous polyp (chi(2)=13.46, P < 0.005). Gastric and colon cancers with high differentiation had a higher mycoplasma infection ratio than those with low differentiation (P < 0.05). Mycoplasma infection in esophageal cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer and glioma was 50.9% (27/53), 52.6% (31/59), 39.7% (25/63) and 41% (38/91), respectively. The mycoplasma DNA was successfully amplified with the DNA extracted from the cancer tissues that were positive for mycoplasma infection (detected with antibody PD4).

Conclusion: There was high correlation between mycoplasma infection and different cancers, which suggests the possibility of an association between the two. The mechanism involved in oncogenesis by mycoplasma remains unknown.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Immunoperoxidase stainings of different carcinoma tissues reacted with monoclonal antibody PD4 ( × 400). Both A and B were gastric carcinomas. A (singnet-ring cell carcinoma) was negative, B (adenocarcinoma) was positive. C (glioma) indicated the negative reaction, D (glioma), E (lung cancer), F (esophagus cancer), G (breast cancer) and H (colon cancer) presented the positive reactions with antibody PD4.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Amplification of mycoplasma 16srDNA from paraffin-N-embedded specimens. M: 100 bp DNA Marker; Lane 1: Positive control; Lanes 2-4: positive specimen; Lanes 5-7: negative specimen. The arrow indicates the amplified mycoplasma DNA.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Lo SC, Hayes MM, Kotani H, Pierce PF, Wear DJ, Newton PB, Tully JG, Shih JW. Adhesion onto and invasion into mammalian cells by mycoplasma penetrans: a newly isolated mycoplasma from patients with AIDS. Mod Pathol. 1993;6:276–280. - PubMed
    1. Marshall AJ, Miles RJ, Richards L. The phagocytosis of mycoplasmas. J Med Microbiol. 1995;43:239–250. - PubMed
    1. Murphy WH, Bullis C, Dabich L, Heyn R, Zarafonetis CJ. Isolation of mycoplasma from leukemic and nonleukemic patients. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1970;45:243–251. - PubMed
    1. Cassell GH, Cole BC. Mycoplasmas as agents of human disease. N Engl J Med. 1981;304:80–89. - PubMed
    1. Taylor-Robinson D, McCormack WM. The genital mycoplasmas (first of two parts) N Engl J Med. 1980;302:1003–1010. - PubMed

Publication types