Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Artificial Intelligence and Multi-omics Center (AIMOC), Stavanger, Norway.
Sci Rep. 2021 Nov 2;11(1):21447. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-01055-2.
Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) infects most people asymptomatically, but recent reports indicate that the virus may be related to carcinogenesis. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of MCPyV on the development of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). Totally, 1057 samples, including 412 fresh biopsy samples (FBS) and 645 paraffin-embedded PTC biopsy samples (PEBS), and 1057 adjacent non-cancerous samples were assessed for the presence of MCPyV DNA and RNA. MCPyV DNA was positive in 215 (20.3%) of samples, including 126 (30.6%) in FBS and 89 (13.8%) in PEBS. In MCPyV-positive samples, the mean MCPyV copy number was higher in the patients with FBS (2.3 × 10 ± 0.5 × 10 copies/cell) compared to PEBS (0.7 × 10 ± 0.1 × 10 copies/cell) and adjacent non-PTC normal samples (0.3 × 10 ± 0.02 × 10 copies/cell), indicating a statistically significant difference (P < 0.001). The LT-Ag RNA expression was higher in FBS compared to PEBS, while VP1 gene transcript was not detected in any samples. Although our findings showed the presence of MCPyV in a subset of PTC Iranian patients, further research is required to confirm these findings.
默克尔细胞多瘤病毒（MCPyV）无症状感染大多数人，但最近的报告表明该病毒可能与致癌有关。本研究旨在评估 MCPyV 对甲状腺乳头状癌（PTC）发展的影响。共评估了 1057 个样本，包括 412 个新鲜活检样本（FBS）和 645 个石蜡包埋 PTC 活检样本（PEBS），以及 1057 个相邻的非癌性样本，以评估 MCPyV DNA 和 RNA 的存在情况。MCPyV DNA 在 215 个样本中呈阳性（20.3%），其中 126 个在 FBS 中呈阳性（30.6%），89 个在 PEBS 中呈阳性（13.8%）。在 MCPyV 阳性样本中，FBS 患者的 MCPyV 拷贝数平均值（2.3×10±0.5×10 拷贝/细胞）高于 PEBS（0.7×10±0.1×10 拷贝/细胞）和相邻非 PTC 正常样本（0.3×10±0.02×10 拷贝/细胞），差异具有统计学意义（P<0.001）。与 PEBS 相比，FBS 中的 LT-Ag RNA 表达更高，而在任何样本中均未检测到 VP1 基因转录本。尽管我们的研究结果显示 MCPyV 存在于一小部分伊朗 PTC 患者中，但需要进一步研究来证实这些发现。
