Cytomegalovirus and cervical cancer: failure to detect a direct association or an interaction with human papillomaviruses.

To investigate the possibility of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) involvement in the aetiology of cervical carcinoma or in the development of a more clinically aggressive cancer cell phenotype, biopsies of cervical cancer from 103 women undergoing primary therapy for invasive (Stage Ia to IV) cervical cancer were investigated using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) designed to detect sequences from the IE mtrII region of HCMV. PCR assays were also used on the same specimens to identify the presence of common human papillomavirus (HPV) types associated with cervical cancer (HPV 16, 18, 31, 33, 52, and 58). Of the 103 cancers examined, only 4 contained detectable HCMV DNAs, a proportion lower than that found by another Australian group investigating the cervical carriage of HCMV in women with normal cervices. In contrast, 89 of these cancers were positive for HPV DNA sequences, with HPV 16 (65/103) and HPV 18 (17/103) being most commonly detected. Three of the 4 HCMV-positive tumors were also positive for HPV 16 DNA. An examination of the relevant histopathological and clinical data revealed no evidence to support a contention that cancers positive for HCMV are associated with any unusual histologic cell types or with aggressive clinical behavior.