Prevalence of JC and BK viruses in Patients with Colorectal Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta- Analysis

INTRODUCTION: Polyomaviruses including BK virus (BKV) and JC virus (JCV) are widespread in human and have been associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) in some studies. The aim of present systematic review and meta-analysis article is to calculate the pooled prevalence of BKV and JCV in patients with CRC and assessing their association with this malignancy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Domestic databases and Sciences Direct, PubMed, ProQuest, Web of Sciences and Scopus were searched for relevant articles up to 2nd June 2019Two independent reviewers extracted the related data from eligible articles. The pooled prevalence and pooled odds ratio (POR) and their 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated using “metaprop” and “metan” commands in Stata 14. Where I2 statistics were >50%, the random effect model was used. RESULTS: From 1461 relevant studies, 24 articles were eligible and included in the qualitative while 19 articles included in quantitative analysis. The pooled prevalence based on diagnostic methods varies from 29% using immunohistochemistry to 52% using nested-PCR method. The likelihood of being infected with JCV was significantly higher in CRC patients compared to healthy (POR: 4.41, 95% CI: 2.13 – 9.13) controls, normal adjacent mucosa (POR: 2.79, 95% CI: 1.3-5.9) and colorectal adenoma (POR: 3.1, 95% CI: 1.5-6.5) but was not significant when non-CRC patients used as control group. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of JCV in colorectal patients was substantially variable by different methods and targets. The significant association between JCV and CRC that was observed in the present study is not indicative of causation and should be studied more in large-scale prospective designs.