%0 Journal Article
%T Detection of human cytomegalovirus in normal and neoplastic breast epithelium
%A Lualhati E Harkins
%A Lisa A Matlaf
%A Liliana Soroceanu
%A Katrin Klemm
%A William J Britt
%A Wenquan Wang
%A Kirby I Bland
%A Charles S Cobbs
%J Herpesviridae
%D 2010
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/2042-4280-1-8
%X Surgical biopsy specimens of normal breast (n = 38) breast carcinoma (n = 39) and paired normal breast from breast cancer patients (n = 21) were obtained. Specimens were evaluated by immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, PCR and DNA sequencing for evidence of HCMV antigens and nucleic acids.We detected HCMV expression specifically in glandular epithelium in 17/27 (63%) of normal adult breast cases evaluated. In contrast, HCMV expression was evident in the neoplastic epithelium of 31/32 (97%) patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC) cases evaluated (p = 0.0009).These findings are the first to demonstrate that persistent HCMV infection occurs in breast epithelium in a significant percentage of normal adult females. HCMV expression was also evident in neoplastic breast epithelium in a high percentage of normal and neoplastic breast tissues obtained from breast cancer patients, raising the possibility that viral infection may be involved in the neoplastic process.Environmental and epidemiological factors that contribute to breast cancer are poorly understood, and only 5-20% of women with breast cancer are known to have hereditary risk factors [2]. While investigators have searched for viruses that contribute to breast cancer pathogenesis, no causal associations have been established [3]. An association of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) with breast cancer has been reported in the literature [4-7]. These reports have principally relied upon use of the DNA detection techniques of PCR and Southern blot hybridization, but these data have not been validated with appropriately sensitive in situ techniques. Other investigators have found that human endogenous retroviruses with homology to mammary tumor virus are associated with a significant percentage of breast cancer, and can contribute to epithelial cell transformation both in vitro and in vivo[8-13]. Human papilloma virus (HPV) is a known oncogenic virus that has been detected i
%U http://www.herpesviridae.org/content/1/1/8