Behdarvand Anahita, Zamani Mohammad Saber, Sadeghi Farzin, Yahyapour Yousef, Vaziri Farzam, Jamnani Fatemeh Rahimi, Nowruzi Bahareh, Fateh Abolfazl, Siadat Seyed Davar
Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Infectious Diseases & Tropical Medicine Research Center, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
Microb Pathog. 2017 Jul;108:21-26. doi: 10.1016/j.micpath.2017.04.033. Epub 2017 Apr 25.
Several risk factors have been linked to lung cancer (LC). Nevertheless, a viral etiology has been mentioned for a subset of patients developing LC. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) on developing non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLCs). In total, 96 paraffin-embedded NSCLC biopsies and 96 adjacent non-LC normal specimens were analyzed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the existence of the MCPyV DNA and the expressions of RNA transcripts. Among the 96 enrolled participants, 42 patients were adenocarcinomas (ADs) and 54 patients were squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Of the 42 ADs, MCPyV DNA was determined in 15 (35.7%) samples and of the 54 SCC, MCPyV DNA was detected in 22 (40.7%) samples. Only one non-cancerous sample in SCC subjects was positive for MCPyV LT-Ag DNA load (0.216 × 10). In MCPyV-positive subjects, the median MCPyV copy number was higher in the patients with ADs (0.016 × 10 copies/cell) compared to SCCs (0.005 × 10 copies/cell); but this difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.913). In the seven stages of LC, the MCPyV LT-Ag was quantified in stage IV (0.204 × 10 copies/cell) more than in other stages. There was statistically significant difference between stages of cancer and MCPyV LT-Ag DNA load (P = 0.002). These results revealed for the first time the presence of MCPyV in a subset of patients with NSCLCs in Iran. Further studies should be carried out to clarify the role of MCPyV in lung carcinogenesis.
多种风险因素已被证实与肺癌（LC）相关。然而，有一部分肺癌患者的病因被认为与病毒有关。本研究旨在评估默克尔细胞多瘤病毒（MCPyV）在非小细胞肺癌（NSCLC）发生发展中的作用。通过定量实时聚合酶链反应（PCR）分析了96例石蜡包埋的NSCLC活检标本和96例相邻的非肺癌正常标本中MCPyV DNA的存在情况以及RNA转录本的表达。在96名纳入研究的参与者中，42例为腺癌（AD），54例为鳞状细胞癌（SCC）。在42例AD中，15例（35.7%）样本检测到MCPyV DNA；在54例SCC中，22例（40.7%）样本检测到MCPyV DNA。SCC受试者中仅有1例非癌样本的MCPyV LT-Ag DNA载量呈阳性（0.216×10）。在MCPyV阳性受试者中，AD患者的MCPyV拷贝数中位数（0.016×10拷贝/细胞）高于SCC患者（0.005×10拷贝/细胞）；但差异无统计学意义（P = 0.913）。在肺癌的七个阶段中，IV期（0.204×10拷贝/细胞）的MCPyV LT-Ag定量高于其他阶段。癌症分期与MCPyV LT-Ag DNA载量之间存在统计学显著差异（P = 0.002）。这些结果首次揭示了伊朗部分NSCLC患者中存在MCPyV。应开展进一步研究以阐明MCPyV在肺癌发生中的作用。
