title: Prevalence of JC polyomavirus large T antigen sequences among Iranian patients with central nervous system tumors.
abstract: The human neurotropic JC virus (JCV) is of significant interest due to its experimental neuro- oncogenic potential. In clinical samples from human central nervous system (CNS) tumors, detection of JCV sequences suggests a possible association with CNS neoplasms, but the results are discrepant worldwide. To assess the prevalence of JCV sequences in Iranian patients with primary and metastatic CNS malignancies, a total of 58 fresh CNS tumors were examined by quantitative real-time PCR targeting the JCV large T antigen (LT-Ag) gene, and JCV DNA load was determined as viral copy number per cell. All patients were immunocompetent, and none of them had received immunosuppressive therapy before surgical operation. JC virus LT-Ag sequences were found in a total of 15 (25.9 %) out of the 58 tested samples. In primary CNS tumors, JCV sequences were identified more frequently in meningiomas (50.0 %) and schwannomas (35.7 %). In metastatic CNS tumors, JCV LT-Ag was identified in one case with brain adenocarcinoma originating from lung cancer. No statistically significant association between JCV positivity and various types of CNS malignancies was observed (P = 0.565). The mean JCV LT-Ag copy number in 15 positive cases was 1.8 × 10(-4) ± 4.5 × 10(-4) copies per cell (range 1.0 × 10(-5)-1.78 × 10(-3) copies per cell). An inverse correlation between white blood cell (WBC) count and JCV copy number was observed, but this correlation was not statistically significant (R = -0.198, P = 0.480). This study provides the first data on the prevalence of JCV in primary and metastatic CNS tumors from Iranian patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Farzin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sadeghi
authors.forename: Mostafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salehi-Vaziri
authors.forename: Seyed Mohammad
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Ghodsi
authors.forename: Ahad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alizadeh
authors.forename: Farah
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bokharaei-Salim
authors.forename: Sedigheh Taghinezhad
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Saroukalaei
authors.forename: Mohammadhossein
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mirbolouk
authors.forename: Seyed Hamidreza
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Monavari
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Keyvani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000957:Antigens, Viral, Tumor / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016543:Central Nervous System Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D007577:JC Virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D000957:Antigens, Viral, Tumor; D004279:DNA, Viral