Epstein-barr virus may not be associated with breast cancer in Iranian patients

Abstract

Background: Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) is a human herpes virus which infects over 90% of the world's population. This virus has been implicated in the pathogenesis of many types of cancers. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide. EBV has been studied as a possible cause of human breast cancer. The data related to the possible association of EBV with breast cancer are contradictory and therefore inconclusive. Here we searched for EBV in Iranian patients with breast cancer. Methods: Paraffin embedded formalin fixed specimens were prepared from malignant tumor tissue from eighteen Iranian patients with clinically proven breast cancer. EBV as well as human cells were detected and quantified by PCR and real-time PCR, respectively. The ratio of EBV/human cells was calculated in specimens from all patients. Results: EBV was not detected in any of breast cancer tissues in our study. Quantitative analysis showed that EBV is not present in any specimens at level of one virus per each human cell. Conclusion: Our results showed that EBV may not be associated with breast cancer in our patients suggesting that EBV might not have a significant role in this disease in Iran.

Epstein-Barr Virus and Breast Carcinoma in Iran

“…Although the presence of a virus alone does not establish a causal role in the disease and other techniques are not used to prove the attendance of EBV-DNA in tumor cells, our findings with 9.3% positivity, in addition to the previously reported positive results, supports the possibility of an etiologic relationship. The proof of etiologic role of EBV in the induction of breast carcinoma needs more efforts using more specific and sensitive techniques (1,2,16,17). If the association of one or more of these viruses with breast cancer can be established, there is a possibility of prevention by anti-viral treatments and vaccination strategies (11).…”

“…The negative results may be due to geographical differences and various distribution patterns of virus, low amount of the virus, and low sensitivity of used techniques (16). Also, some techniques may not distinguish between viruses in tumoral cells and those in tissue lymphocytes (16,17).…”

“…Kadivar et al (16) reported that EBNA-1 and LMP-1 were negative in all 100 breast carcinoma cases and control subjects, which were approved by the PCR method. Also, the study by Fadavi et al (17), using PCR and RT-PCR, showed negative EBV-DNA in 18 breast cancers. The false positive results may be due to contamination, infected circulating lymphocytes, cross-reaction of antibodies or use of ISH, which determines the virus with qualitative but not quantitative method.…”

Presence of Human Papillomavirus and Epstein-Barr Virus in Breast Cancer Biopsies as Potential Risk Factors

“…On the other hand, the expression of EBV latent protein expression has also been assessed in breast cancer cell lines in vitro and in vivo 22 , as well as the oncogenic capacity of its viral proteins 6 . However, some studies have failed to find any relationship between EBV and breast cancer [23][24][25] . These evidences allow for a possible relationship between breast cancer and infection, either with EBV or HPV, to be proposed, based on which these viruses can be regarded as risk factors in the development of this disease that causes many deaths in the female population worldwide.…”

Presencia del virus del papiloma humano y del virus de Epstein-Barr en biopsias de cáncer de mama como posibles factores de riesgo

“…Por otra parte, también se ha evaluado la expresión de proteínas latentes del VEB en líneas celulares de cáncer de mama in vitro e in vivo 22 , así como también la capacidad oncogénica de sus proteínas virales 6 . Sin embargo, algunos estudios no han encontrado ninguna relación entre el VEB y el cáncer de mama [23][24][25] . Estas evidencias permiten plantear una posible relación entre el cáncer de mama y la infección, bien sea por VEB o por VPH, a partir de lo cual pueden considerarse estos virus como factores de riesgo para el desarrollo de este cáncer que causa muchas muertes en la población femenina en todo el mundo.…”