Genetic alterations in gastric cancer.

The aim of this paper is to review the most frequent genetic alterations found in gastric carcinoma, and to focus on the main differences between intestinal and diffuse cancer types. Particular emphasis will be given to tumor suppressor genes, above all to p53. The role of normal and mutated p53 proteins has been studied in depth in a variety of cell types, and p53 alterations have been extensively analysed in many human tumors, including gastric cancer. Accordingly, the paper will report p53 data on this neoplasia, and consider these data in the light of various more general notions.