Evaluation of human cytomegalovirus antigen expression in invasive breast carcinoma in a population of Iranian patients

BACKGROUND: The role of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) in the development of breast carcinoma is questionable. The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of the immediate early antigen (IE) of HCMV in breast carcinoma and its association with some clinicopathologic factors in a population of Iranian patients. METHODS: Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue blocks from the pathology laboratories of the Azahra and Shahid Beheshti hospitals, Isfahan, Iran, from 2013 to 2016, were used in the study. We used immunohistochemistry and real-time PCR to detect the IE-antigen of HCMV in breast carcinoma, normal tissue adjacent to carcinoma, and normal tissue from mammoplasty specimens. RESULTS: A total of 96 samples were evaluated: 70 invasive breast carcinoma of different histologic subtypes and 26 mammoplasty normal breast tissues. All the samples were negative for IE-antigen expression. No relationship was seen between breast cancer and HCMV in this study. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study failed to show any relationship between HCMV and the development of breast carcinoma.