Jankovic Marko, Glumac Sofija, Knezevic Aleksandra, Tomic Ana, Miljanovic Danijela, Cupic Jovana, Banko Ana, Kablar Djurdjina, Celic Ivana, Urosevic Sara, Lazarevic Ivana
Department of Virology, Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, 1 Dr Subotica Street, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, 8 Dr Subotica Street, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
Diseases. 2025 Jun 9;13(6):181. doi: 10.3390/diseases13060181.
While not considered a genuine tumorigenic pathogen, the human cytomegalovirus (CMV) has been associated with a wide assortment of malignancies, including breast cancer (BC). In recent years, increasing evidence has been detailing the potential anti-oncogenic capabilities of CMV. Works in the literature addressing the issue are scarce, and a global approach elucidating the role of CMV in breast cancer is lacking.
We inquired into the association between CMV and BC on a global level and surveyed the related literature.
Virus-tumor interaction was examined by correlating country-specific CMV seroprevalence and the age-standardized BC incidence rates for 73 countries, as provided by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Statistical analysis was conducted using Spearman's correlation, along with univariate and multivariate linear regression analysis. The literature review included works available in the PubMed database until and including February 2025.
The worldwide incidence of BC correlated strongly and inversely with CMV prevalence the world over ( < 0.001, Spearman ρ = -0.553). This association was upheld after univariate and multivariate linear regression, extending to other tumors such as skin melanoma and kidney cancer ( < 0.001).
In this study, we draw attention to a previously unexplored global inverse relationship between the prevalence of CMV and the incidence of BC, which suggests a potential oncoprotective role for this pathogen. Although the association itself does not imply causality, these data provide an intriguing possibility of observing CMV as a tentative factor of protection against this malignancy.
虽然人类巨细胞病毒（CMV）不被视为真正的致瘤病原体，但它已与多种恶性肿瘤相关，包括乳腺癌（BC）。近年来，越来越多的证据详细说明了CMV的潜在抗癌能力。文献中针对该问题的研究较少，且缺乏阐明CMV在乳腺癌中作用的整体方法。
我们在全球范围内探究CMV与BC之间的关联，并对相关文献进行了调查。
通过将国际癌症研究机构（IARC）提供的73个国家的特定国家CMV血清阳性率与年龄标准化的BC发病率进行关联，来研究病毒与肿瘤的相互作用。使用Spearman相关性分析以及单变量和多变量线性回归分析进行统计分析。文献综述包括截至2025年2月（含2月）在PubMed数据库中可获取的研究。
全球范围内BC的发病率与CMV的全球流行率呈强烈负相关（<0.001，Spearman ρ = -0.553）。在单变量和多变量线性回归后，这种关联仍然成立，并扩展到其他肿瘤，如皮肤黑色素瘤和肾癌（<0.001）。
在本研究中，我们提请注意CMV流行率与BC发病率之间以前未被探索的全球负相关关系，这表明该病原体可能具有抗癌保护作用。虽然这种关联本身并不意味着因果关系，但这些数据提供了一种有趣的可能性，即观察到CMV作为预防这种恶性肿瘤的一个暂定因素。
