Prevalence of Human Herpes Virus-8 Infection Among Women with Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies and the most common cause of death in women worldwide. Recently, viral etiology theory has been proposed on the physiopathology of breast cancer.

This cross-sectional study evaluated the presence of the Human Herpes Virus-8 genome in 138 formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) breast cancer tissues, using real-time PCR. All samples were collected from the department of pathology of Bahonar Hospital (Kerman, Iran) and sent to the virology laboratory of Kerman University of Medical sciences with appropriate conditions.

Out of the 138 FFPE breast cancer tissues, 17(12.31%) were positive for HHV8. Among the HHV-8 positive samples, 58.8% were in the 41-60 years old age group. Among HHV-8 positive cases, 47.05% were an intermediate grade and 82.05% have involvement of 7-9 lymph nodes. Also, there was a significant relationship between age and breast cancer.

The results of this study showed that the prevalence of HHV-8 infection in patients with breast cancer is high and may be associated with an increased risk of breast cancer.