Prevalence of Merkel Cell Polyomavirus (MCPyV) in the Oral Cavity Biopsies in Northern Iran.

Mina Hasani Estalkhi,Farzin Sadeghi,Arghavan Zebardast,Ali Hasanzadeh,Yousef Yahyapour,Mohammad Chehrazi,Maryam Seyed Majidi

doi:10.31557/apjcp.2021.22.12.3927

Abstract

Objective:Infection with human tumor viruses is one of the hypothesized causes of cancer. The current investigation aimed to explore the presence and quantitative analysis of a new human tumor virus, Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) in tissue samples of 114 patients with oral cavity lesions including oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), oral lichen planus (OLP), Dysplasia and oral irritation fibroma (OIF) in Northern Iran. Methods:From 114 formalin fixed paraffin embedded samples; 35 with SCC, 29 with OLP, 14 with dysplasia and 36 with OIF were cut, deparaffinized and DNA was extracted. Quantitative detection of MCPyV large T antigen was performed by absolute quantitative Real-Time PCR. Result: MCPyV DNA was detected in 30.6% (n: 11/36) of IF, 24.1% (n; 7/29) of OLP, 21.4% (n:3/14) of dysplasia and 20% (n;7/35) of OSCC samples. The mean MCPyV DNA copy number was 2.32×10−2 ± 3.97 ×10−2, 2.02×10−2 (SD=3.13×10−2), 2.69×10−4 (SD=2.51×10−4), and 2.56×10−4 (SD=6.73×10−4) per cell in OSCC, dysplasia and both of OLP and OIF samples, respectively (P=0.76). Conclusion:This study provides the first data from Iran regarding the presence of MCPyV genome in oral cavity lesions and oral cancer. These results also emphasize that MCPyV has an active role in the occurrence of oral lesions and progression to cancer. Further studies should be carried out to clarify the role of MCPyV in oral cavity lesions.

Highlights

Oral cancer (OC) is a most common malignant tumor in the head and neck tissues and sixth most common cancer with the high mortality at the world (Warnakulasuriya et al, 2009)
This study provides the first data from Iran regarding the presence of Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) genome in oral cavity lesions and oral cancer
Merkel cell Polyomavirus (MCPyV) is a new human oncogenic virus that is associated with the Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), a rare but rapid metastasizing skin neoplasm (Feng et al, 2008)

Summary

Introduction

Oral cancer (OC) is a most common malignant tumor in the head and neck tissues and sixth most common cancer with the high mortality at the world (Warnakulasuriya et al, 2009). Many other possible risk factors including infection with certain oncogenic viruses like human papilloma virus (HPV) and Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) have been suggested (Pezzuto et al, 2015). Merkel cell Polyomavirus (MCPyV) is a new human oncogenic virus that is associated with the Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), a rare but rapid metastasizing skin neoplasm (Feng et al, 2008). Merkel cells are oval-shaped epithelial neuroendocrine cells with mechanoreceptors properties for light touch sensation and found in the skin of vertebrates. They are found in the basal layers of epidermis, oral mucosa and esophageal epithelium (Harmse et al, 1999). Based on the previous findings, we designed a study for the first

Methods

Results

Conclusion