[Relationship between human herpesvirus 6 infection and oral squamous cell carcinoma].
OBJECTIVE
To study the relationship between human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) and oral squamous cell carcinoma.


METHODS
The serum anti-HHV-6 antibody titers from oral squamous cell carcinoma patients and control subjects were detected by indirect immunofluorescence assay. HHV-6 DNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from oral squamous cell carcinoma patients and control subjects was amplified by PCR with primers from sequence of HHV-6 and the specificity was confirmed by Southern-blot hybridization with an internal probe oligonucleotide. An immunohistochemical staining using rabbit anti-HHV-6 antibody was used to detect HHV-6 antigen in oral tumor tissues from oral squamous cell carcinoma patients.


RESULTS
Significantly higher proportion of patients with oral carcinoma (16/16) had IgG antibody to HHV-6 in sera compared with those (12/16) in control subjects, and geometric mean titer of these two groups was 1:118 and 1:64 respectively (P less than 0.05). The detectable rate of HHV-6 DNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells for the above groups was 10/16 and 6/16 respectively (P less than 0.05). HHV-6 antigens were positive in 9 out of 12 oral tumor cases and in only 2 out of 8 pericancerous tissues the difference between these two groups was also significant (P less than 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
These results demonstrated the frequent presence of HHV-6 in oral squamous cell carcinoma, therefore, HHV-6 possibly play a role in the pathogenesis of oral squamous cell carcinoma.
Liu
Jun-lian
JL
Department of Dermatology, The No.306 Hospital of PLA, Beijing 100101, China.
Xu
Zhi-kai
ZK
Zhao
Yu
Y
Jin
Yan
Y
Dai
Yi-min
YM
Yao
Kun
K
D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000821:virology*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000821:virology; D015654:Herpesvirus 6, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007223:Infant; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000821:virology*
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D004279:DNA, Viral; D007074:Immunoglobulin G