JC Polyoma Virus as a Possible Risk Factor for Prostate Cancer Development - Immunofluorescence and Molecular Based Case Control Study

BACKGROUND: In vitro studies have produced conflicting results about the significance of the JC Polyoma Virus (JCV) in the human cancers. OBJECTIVES: Our study aims to detect the presence of JCV Large T antigen (LTag) together with viral load quantitation in the prostate tumor samples to assess if JCV harbors risk factor for prostate cancer (PCa). METHOD: This was a case control-based study. A total of 110 patients participated in this study, including 55 patients with PCa and another 55 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) as cases and controls, respectively. Tissue, blood and urine samples were collected from each participant. Tissues samples were analyzed for the presence of JCV Ltag using a direct immunofluorescence assay (IF). Only positive IF tested samples were subjected to viral quantitation assay. Data were collected and managed using SPSS version 20. RESULT: The JCV LTag in the cases group was 23.63% (13/55) which was higher than that of the controls group 5.45% (3/55) with a P. value of .006 and O.R of 5.76. The mean of viral load was significantly higher among cases tissue specimens 20156 ± 5450 copies/ml compared to controls group 6378 ± 2456copies/ml with P-value of .002. The virus was detected in 11/13 (84.6%) urine samples of cases with a mean viral load of 14068 ± 4590 copies/ml compared to 2/3 (66.6%) of controls viral load 2534 ± 1267 copies/ml. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, a higher JCV LTag with more viral load were detected in cases group compared to controls. Our findings support a strong relationship between JCV infection and the probability of developing PCa.