Association of Epstein Barr virus deoxyribonucleic acid with lung carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. In addition to smoking, a variety of other contributing factors, including viral infection, have been suggested in tumorigenesis. Epstein Barr virus (EBV), which is linked to various malignancies, seems to be a good candidate.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to investigate the association of EBV with lung carcinomas.


METHODS
A total number of 90 formalin fixed paraffin embedded lung tissue samples including 48 cases of lung cancers (18 squamous cell carcinomas [SCCs], 18 adenocarcinomas and 12 small cell carcinomas) and 42 non-tumoral samples (control group), were retrieved from the pathology archive.


METHODS
Following deoxyribonucleic acid extraction, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed using an EBV-Eph PCR kit. The positive cases were studied immunohistochemically for the expression of EBV-late membrane protein-1 (EBV-LMP-1) in tumoral tissues.


METHODS
The t-test and Fisher exact test were used and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.


RESULTS
Five of our cases, including four SCCs and one adenocarcinoma and two control samples showed a positive reaction in PCR. All positive tumoral cases showed diffuse staining with LMP-1 in immunohistochemistry.


CONCLUSIONS
We found a significant difference in the presence of the EBV genome in cases of lung SCC compared to other lung lesions (P = 0.02). According to our data, EBV is not at major play in the non-lymphoepithelioma-like cancers of the lung in general, but may have a role in the tumorigenesis of some lung SCCs.
Amir Hossein
AH
Jafarian
Abbsali
A
Omidi-Ashrafi
Nema
N
Mohamadian-Roshan
Department of Pathology, Quaem Hospital, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Mahdi
M
Karimi-Shahri
Kiarash
K
Ghazvini
Samaneh
S
Boroumand-Noughabi
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005260:Female; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D055815:Young Adult
D004279:DNA, Viral; C037662:EBV-associated membrane antigen, Epstein-Barr virus; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins