1. ¹Department of Pathology, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA, USA
2. ²Division of Virology, Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA, USA
3. ³Division of Surgery, City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA, USA

Correspondence: Dr SK Lau, MD, Department of Pathology, City of Hope National Medical Center, 1500 East Duarte Road, Duarte, CA 91010, USA. E-mail: SLau@coh.org

Received 27 August 2004; Revised 18 October 2004; Accepted 20 October 2004; Published online 3 December 2004.

Abstract

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is thought to possess oncogenic properties and has been linked with a number of human malignancies. CMV infection was recently described in association with malignant gliomas. The intent of the present study was to further investigate the reported association between CMV and malignant gliomas. Tissue from 22 brain tumors of various histologic types and grades, four normal brains, six breast carcinomas, six colon carcinomas, six lung carcinomas, and six sarcomas were evaluated for the presence of CMV by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), in situ hybridization, and immunohistochemical methods. None of the brain tumors or normal brain tissue tested demonstrated evidence of CMV pp65 or early nuclear proteins by immunohistochemistry. In addition, no CMV RNA or DNA was detected in these cases by in situ hybridization and PCR. None of the carcinomas or sarcomas evaluated were positive for CMV by immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, or PCR. The findings of the present study suggest that CMV is not significantly associated with brain tumors in humans.