title: Association of viral factors with non-familial breast cancer in Taiwan by comparison with non-cancerous, fibroadenoma, and thyroid tumor tissues.
abstract: To study the etiologic factors of non-familial breast cancer, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Southern hybridization were used to detect six viruses including human papillomavirus (HPV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), herpes simplex virus (HSV)-1, HSV-2, and human herpesvirus (HHV)-8 DNA in 69 patients with breast cancer and 60 specimens from non-cancerous or other individuals with thyroid tumors or fibroadenoma (non-breast cancer controls). Two specimens from patients with a familial history of breast cancer and five breast cancer specimens with negative results for beta-globin, which was used as internal control, were excluded from this study. Eight (12.9%) HSV-1, 28 (45.2%) EBV, 47 (75.8%) CMV, 8 (12.9%) HPV, and 28 (45.2%) HHV-8 positive samples out of the 62 breast cancer specimens were detected; no HSV-2 DNA was detected in any group. Among the viral gene-positive breast cancer samples, 12 (23.1%) were positive for 1 virus, 16 (30.8%) were positive for 2 viruses, 21 (40.4%) were positive for 3 viruses, and 3 (5.8%) were positive for 4 viruses. Among the viral gene-positive specimens of the control groups, only one virus, CMV, was found in the non-cancerous and thyroid tumor specimens, while multiple viruses were found in the fibroadenoma specimens. The viruses associated with breast cancer were HHV-8 > EBV (P <0.01). The viruses associated with fibroadenoma were HSV-1 and HHV-8 > EBV (P <0.01). The presence of more than one virus was found predominantly in breast cancer and exclusively found in fibroadenoma. CMV was the only virus associated with thyroid tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ju-Hsin
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Chung-Hung
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Min-Hsiung
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Shyh-Jye
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Fang-Ling
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Chi-Chiang
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology*; D005260:Female; D018226:Fibroadenoma / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D013624:Taiwan; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000821:virology*; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000150:complications*