Evaluation of association between the frequency of Epstein–Barr virus and cytomegalovirus infection in healthy and tumoral breast samples

Abstract

IntroductionDespite advances in science and technology, breast cancer is the fifth most common cancer in Iran. Previous studies have reported that there is a concrete relationship between this type of cancer and different kinds of risk factors, especially infection diseases. Among various kinds of infectious risk factors, much attention has been given to Herpesviridae. As the prevalence of EBV and CMV in patients suffering from breast cancer is not clear, in this study we evaluated these two viruses using PCR. Material & methodsThe phenol-chloroform protocol was used to extract DNA. Then, to evaluate the EBV and CMV infections, PCR analysis was performed to assess the presence of EBNA-1 and Glycoprotein gB genes, respectively. ResultsPCR illustrated two EBV positive samples among cancerous tissues while all normal adjacent tissues were EBV negative. Moreover, we did not detect any CMV positive samples. ConclusionAccording to the present study, there is no association between EBV and CMV with breast cancer in Iranian women; however, further investigation was required.