Background: The association of oncogenic EBV with breast carcinoma (BC) is still in controversy.
Aim of work: Assess the association of EBV with BC in Egyptian women and find possible relationship between prognostic factors of BC and EBV detection.
Subjects and methods: Paraffin-embedded sections from 40 female patients with primary invasive BC; ductal (n=32) and lobular (n=8) and breast tissues from patients with fibrocystic disease (n=20) as control were screened for presence of EBV by EBV nuclear antigen-1 (EBNA-1) immunostaining and by PCR for EBV-DNA.
Results: 10/40 (25%) of the BC specimens stained positively for EBNA-1; EBNA-1 expression was restricted to a fraction 5%-60% of tumor epithelial cells. EBV-DNA was detected in 8/10 of BC specimens positive for EBNA-1. Control specimens were negative by both techniques. 7/8 (87.5%) of EBV-DNA positive tumors were associated with >3 lymph nodes involvement.
Conclusion: EBV is associated with some invasive BC in Egyptian females and may play a role in their etiology.