Abstract
Ovarian cancer (OC) is one of the most common, and life-threatening gynaecological cancer affecting females. Almost 75% of all OC cases are diagnosed at late stages, where the 5-year survival rate is less than 30%. The aetiology of the disease is still unclear, and there are currently no screening method nor effective treatment strategies for the advanced disease. A growing body of evidence shows that human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infecting more than 50% of the world population, may play a role in inducing carcinogenesis through its immunomodulatory activities. In healthy subjects, the primary HCMV infection is essentially asymptomatic. The virus then establishes a life-long chronic latency primarily in the hematopoietic progenitor cells in the bone marrow, with periodic reactivation from latency that is often characterized by high levels of circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines. Currently, infection-induced chronic inflammation is considered as an essential process for OC progression and metastasis. In line with this observation, few recent studies have identified high expressions of HCMV proteins on OC tissue biopsies that were associated with poor survival outcomes. Active HCMV infection in the OC tumour microenvironment may thus directly contribute to OC progression. In this review, we highlight the potential impact of HCMV infection-induced immunomodulatory effects on host immune responses to OC that may promote OC progression.
Highlights
Ovarian cancer (OC) is one of the most prevalent, aggressive, and life-threatening gynaecological malignancies affecting females
Despite the fact that infection with human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is rarely associated with OC, recent studies have shown that OC patients with high expression of HCMV-immediate early (IE) and HCMV-pp65 proteins by their ovarian tumours have shorter survival outcomes compared with those with little tumour expression of these proteins [15,16]
The presence of an active HCMV infection with HCMV-pp65 and HCMV-IE proteins on ovarian tumours is quite intriguing and needs further investigation in a larger cohorts of OC patients. This would help justify whether administering anti-HCMV treatment to OC patients experiencing active HCMV reactivation in their tumour microenvironment (TME) is needed in future personalised treatment approaches for such patients
Summary
Ovarian cancer (OC) is one of the most prevalent, aggressive, and life-threatening gynaecological malignancies affecting females. Despite the fact that infection with HCMV is rarely associated with OC, recent studies have shown that OC patients with high expression of HCMV-immediate early (IE) and HCMV-pp proteins by their ovarian tumours have shorter survival outcomes compared with those with little tumour expression of these proteins [15,16]. These data suggest that infection with HCMV could potentially promote cancer progression.
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