Molecular Investigation of the Human Adenovirus in Retinoblastoma Patients

Abstract

Background and Aims: Retinoblastoma tumors are the most common intraocular malignancy in childhood, leading to death after two years. The Human Adenovirus (HAdV) infection could be critical in the retinoblastoma pathogenesis due to the virus and retinoblastoma 1 interactions. The objective of the current study was to investigate the possible presence of the HAdV genome in the retinoblastoma patient's tumors.
 Materials and Methods: In this study, we evaluated the HAdV infection in 96 pathological confirmed retinoblastoma samples. The DNA was extracted from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded blocks, and the virus infection was assessed using polymerase chain reaction. SPSS version 22 was used for statistical analysis.
 Results: The mean age ± SD of the retinoblastoma patients was 28.89 ± 17 months. In addition, the demographic evaluation indicated that 43 (46.7%) of patients were female. The retinoblastoma laterality assessment indicates 87 (90.4%) unilateral and 9 (9.4%) bilateral tumors. Growth pattern analysis indicates endophytic 58 (77.3%), exophytic 8 (10.7%), and 9 (12%) of tumors with mix endophytic and exophytic patterns. The polymerase chain reaction results could not found any evidence of HAdV infection in all 96 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples.
 Conclusions: The study results suggest that there is not any association between HAdV infection and retinoblastoma tumors in studied samples. The HAdV infection may not a concern in retinoblastoma pathogenesis. Further investigations are recommended in this field of study.