HUMAN CYTOMEGALOVIRUS AND COLORECTAL ADENOCARCINOMA: ANY ASSOCIATION?

Abstract

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) has been implicated to transform many mammalian cells, so we tried to investigate whether HCMV participates in human colorectal carcinogenesis.Methods: Immunohistochemistry analysis using monoclonal antibody of HCMV early protein was conducted on tissues of 32 colorectal adenocarcinomas and eight colorectal hyperplastic polyps, tissues of normal tumor margin were considered as control. Results: HCMV early protein was detected in five out of 32 (15.6%) colorectal adenocarcinomas, while none of the eight colorectal hyperplastic polyps and tissues of normal tumor margins was positive for the virus early protein.Conclusion: the data of this study suggests that HCMV may participate in the process of colorectal carcinogenesis as it is evidenced that HCMV was detected in colorectal cancer tissues only.