Association between late age at infectious mononucleosis, Epstein-Barr virus antibodies, and ovarian cancer risk.
We conducted two studies to evaluate the hypothesis that late age at first exposure to a common infectious agent such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) may be related to the risk of developing epithelial ovarian cancer. Because EBV more commonly results in infectious mononucleosis (IM) when primary infection occurs at a late age, we first assessed risk associated with age at IM in a population-based case-control study using unconditional logistic regression to estimate odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals. Risk of ovarian cancer was 0.0, 0.9, 1.5, and 2.1 among women diagnosed with IM at < 15, 15-19, 20-24, and > 24 years, respectively, relative to women never diagnosed with IM (p for trend among women with IM = 0.02). In a second study, we examined EBV antibody titers among an independent sample of ovarian cancer cases and controls. Women with elevated IgG titers to viral capsid antigen, a marker of a relatively severe (and, conceivably, later) initial EBV infection, had a 5.3-fold (95% CI 1.5-18.4) increased risk of ovarian cancer. Together, these two studies provide some support for the hypothesis that late age at primary infection with a common agent (conceivably, EBV) may play a role in the etiology of ovarian cancer.
Littman
Alyson J
AJ
Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. alittman@fhcrc.org
Rossing
Mary Anne
MA
Madeleine
Margaret M
MM
Tang
Mei-Tzu Chen
MT
Yasui
Yutaka
Y
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007244:Infectious Mononucleosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000821:virology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000821:virology; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012307:Risk Factors
D000914:Antibodies, Viral