Download ANALYSIS OF THE CYTOMEGALOVIRUS INFECTION IN HUMAN

ANALYSIS OF THE CYTOMEGALOVIRUS INFECTION IN HUMAN PROSTATE
AND PROSTATE CARCINOMA TISSUES
Klochkova T.G., Shkolnik M.I., Evtushenko V.I.
Central Research Institute of Radiology and Rontgenology, St. Petersburg, Russia.
The interaction of the human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) with the infected cell remains
to keep many questions. Recent investigations have revealed a high frequency of HCMV in
tumor cells but failed to show that HCMV can transform human cells to malignancy. At the
same time, it has been shown that HCMV increase resistance to apoptosis in some cancer cell
lines. So, a special term oncomodulation has been introduced to express CMV ability to
modify tumor cell biology.
We aimed to study specificity of CMV infection vs. other members of Herpesvirus
family in prostate tissue of patients with prostate cancer.
Pairs of tumor and adjacent normal prostate tissue specimens from 16 patients were
collected in a course of radical prostatectomy at the Department of Urology of the CRIRR.
Viral DNA of CMV, human herpes virus 8 (HHV8) was detected by PCR. Our analysis has
revealed positive CMV signal in 11 specimens from 16 patients. For 5 patients, positive
CMV signal was detected both in tumor tissue and normal tissues. For 3 patients, positive
CMV signal was found only in normal tissue. For remaining 3 patients, positive CMV signal
was found only in tumor specimens. Only one specimen of 16 tested was HH8-positive. All
examined tissues were HHV1-, HHV2-, and EBV-negative. Additionaly prostate cancer and
normal tissues of extra 3 patients were examined simultaniously with there blood specimens.
Only one specimen of tumor revealed HCMV DNA. All blood specimens were CMVnegative.
These results reveal high frequency (specificity) of CMV infection of prostate tissue
of prostate cancer patients with nearly absence of other investigated herpesviruses.
Association of CMV with tumor or/and normal prostate cells will be further
investigated employing immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization techniques. The
connection of infection of prostate tissue by HCMV with genotype of patients and the success
of treatment will be examined.