Fessahaye Ghimja, Elhassan Ahmed M, Elamin Elwaleed M, Adam Ameera A M, Ghebremedhin Anghesom, Ibrahim Muntaser E
Department of Molecular Biology, Institute of Endemic Diseases, University of Khartoum, Al-Qasr Street, P.O. Box 102, Khartoum, Sudan.
Asmera College of Health Sciences, Asmara, Eritrea.
Infect Agent Cancer. 2017 Dec 21;12:62. doi: 10.1186/s13027-017-0173-2. eCollection 2017.
The oncogenic potential of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in breast cancer is being increasingly recognized. Despite some controversies regarding such role, new evidence is suggesting a culpability of EBV in breast cancer, particularly in Africa where the virus has been originally associated with causation of several solid and hematological malignancies. One example is a report from Sudan implicating EBV as a prime etiologic agent for an aggressive type of breast cancer, where nearly 100% of tumor tissues were shown to carry viral signatures. To get a broader view on such association, other nearby countries should be investigated. The present study aims to determine the prevalence and possible associations of the virus in Eritrean breast cancer patients.
Detection of EBV genome using primers that target Epstein Barr Encoded RNA (EBER) gene and Latent Membrane Protein-1 (LMP-1) gene sequences was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on DNA samples extracted from 144 formalin fixed paraffin embedded breast cancer tissues and 63 non-cancerous breast tissue as control group. A subset of PCR positive samples was evaluated for EBER gene expression by in situ hybridization (ISH). Expression of Latent Membrane Protein-2a (LMP2a) was also assessed by immunohistochemistry in a subset of 45 samples.
Based on PCR results, EBV genome signals were detected in a total of 40 samples (27.77%) as compared to controls ( = 0. 0031) with a higher sensitivity when using the EBER primers. Five out of the 14 samples stained by EBER-ISH 35.71% were positive for the virus indicating the presence of the viral genome within the tumor cells. Of those stained for IHC 7 (15.55%) were positive for LMP2a showing low viral protein frequency.
Based on these findings it can be concluded that EBV in Eritrea is associated with a smaller subset of tumors, unlike neighboring Sudan, thus pointing to possible differences in population predisposition and diseases epidemiology.
爱泼斯坦-巴尔病毒（EBV）在乳腺癌中的致癌潜力日益受到认可。尽管关于这种作用存在一些争议，但新证据表明EBV与乳腺癌有关，特别是在非洲，该病毒最初与多种实体和血液系统恶性肿瘤的病因有关。一个例子是苏丹的一份报告，该报告指出EBV是一种侵袭性乳腺癌的主要病因，其中近100%的肿瘤组织显示携带病毒特征。为了更全面地了解这种关联，应该对其他附近国家进行调查。本研究旨在确定厄立特里亚乳腺癌患者中该病毒的流行率及其可能的关联。
使用针对爱泼斯坦-巴尔编码RNA（EBER）基因和潜伏膜蛋白-1（LMP-1）基因序列的引物，通过聚合酶链反应（PCR）对从144例福尔马林固定石蜡包埋的乳腺癌组织和63例非癌性乳腺组织（作为对照组）中提取的DNA样本进行EBV基因组检测。通过原位杂交（ISH）对一部分PCR阳性样本进行EBER基因表达评估。还通过免疫组织化学对45例样本中的一部分进行潜伏膜蛋白-2a（LMP2a）表达评估。
基于PCR结果，与对照组相比（P = 0.0031），共在40个样本（27.77%）中检测到EBV基因组信号，使用EBER引物时灵敏度更高。在14个经EBER-ISH染色的样本中，有5个（35.71%）病毒呈阳性，表明肿瘤细胞内存在病毒基因组。在那些进行免疫组织化学染色的样本中，7个（15.55%）LMP2a呈阳性，显示病毒蛋白频率较低。
基于这些发现，可以得出结论，与邻国苏丹不同，厄立特里亚的EBV与较小一部分肿瘤相关，这表明人群易感性和疾病流行病学可能存在差异。
