The possible role of EBV in carcinogenesis of colorectal carcinoma.

Abstract

Background: Except for the tight correlation to nasopharyngeal carcinoma, accumulating evidences show that Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is correlated to other carcinomas. This study was to investigate the association of EBV with colorectal tumors.
Materials & methods: Forty paraffin embedded blocks of colorectal tumors (thirty were adenocarcinoma and ten were benign tumors) were all examined for the presence of EBV DNA with
the application of In Situ hybridization.
Results: In Situ EBV DNA signals was detected in 6 out of 30 (20%) of colorectal carcinoma with no observed signals in the sections from benign group.
Conclusion: Our results showed that infection of EBV exists in human colorectal adenocarcinoma, which indicates that EBV may be involved in the carcinogenesis process.