Association Between Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma and Cytomegalovirus in Sudan

Background: Oncogenic viruses has a great impact in the etiology of several human cancers. Human cytomegalovirus is found throughout all geographic locations and socioeconomic groups, and infects between 60% and 70% of adults in industrialized countries and almost 100% in emerging countries. The role of human cytomegalovirus in the etiology of several cancers was well established, but there is little data regarding its association with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, particularly in Sudan. Aim: Therefore, the aim of this study was to screen for the detection of human cytomegalovirus in tissue blocks obtained from Sudanese patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods: Formalin fixed paraffin wax processed nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissue were obtained from 150 tissue blocks and retrospectively investigated for the presence of human cytomegalovirus using polymerase chain reaction. Results: Of the 150 nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissue specimens, human cytomegalovirus was identified in 53/150 (35.3%) of the samples. Out of the 53 samples infected with human cytomegalovirus, 33/97 (34%) were among males and 20/53 (37.7%) were among females. Of the 53 positive samples, 36/53 (68%) were found to harbor Epstein-Barr virus. Conclusion: The current study has shown a relatively considerable association between human cytomegalovirus and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The great majority of samples sheltering human cytomegalovirus were also found to hide Epstein-Barr virus, which proposes the potentiality of Epstein-Barr virus over human cytomegalovirus.