Background: Mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) is the major cause of mammary tumors in mice. There is limited controversial evidence about the probable etiologic role of MMTV- like virus in human breast cancer.
Materials and methods: A total of 40 Formalin fixed paraffin embedded samples with diagnosis of breast cancer were collected in a period of 3 years from cancer institute of Iran. We selected both pre-menopausal and post-menopausal patients with different histologic grades and different ethnic groups. We evaluated presence of MMTV-like virus env gene through real time PCR method.
Results: Forty patients (20 pre and 20 post- menopausal women) were evaluated with the mean age of 49.67. The average tumor size was 39 mm. None of the studied samples were positive for MMTV-like virus env gene target sequences.
Conclusions: We found no evidence on the potential role of MMTV-like virus in the carcinogenicity of breast cancer among Iranian women.