title: No evidence of an association of JC virus and colon neoplasia.
abstract: JC virus (JCV) is an ubiquitous human polyomavirus that frequently resides in the kidneys of healthy individuals and is excreted in the urine of a large proportion of the adult population. Polyomaviruses are associated with disease largely in immunocompromised individuals (progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy). Colorectal cancers can show chromosome instability and it was hypothesized that JCV may account for some of this instability. We screened urine from 45 healthy donors and 233 colorectal cancer/normal tissue pairs for the presence of JCV sequences using a Taqman assay. This assay could detect 1 virus genome in 10 human genomes. In the urine samples, we found an infection rate of approximately 70%. The JCV isolates in these samples could be categorized into four JCV types (2B, 4, 7, and 8), none of which had a rearranged regulatory region. Among the colon tissues, one normal tissue (<0.5%) and none of the matched tumors tested positive for JCV. There is no evidence in these data to indicate that JCV is the cause of genetic instability in colorectal cancer.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Prevention Research Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Avenue N, DE-320, Seattle, WA 98109, USA.
authors.forename: Polly A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Newcomb
authors.forename: Angela C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Bush
authors.forename: Gerald L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Stoner
authors.forename: Johanna W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Lampe
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Potter
authors.forename: Jeannette
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bigler
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000652:urine / Q000821:virology*; D017931:DNA Primers; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007577:JC Virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012042:Registries; D014861:Washington
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004279:DNA, Viral