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Evidencing the Presence of Merkel Cell Polyomavirus in Papillary Thyroid Cancer Publisher Pubmed



Ghanghareh M1 ; Mosayebi Amroabadi J2 ; Tavangar SM3, 4 ; Irani S1 ; Sakhaee F5 ; Ghazanfari Jajin M6 ; Vaziri F5, 7 ; Siadat SD5, 7 ; Fateh A5, 7
Authors
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Authors Affiliations
  1. 1. Department of Biology, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
  2. 2. Artificial Intelligence and Multi-omics Center (AIMOC), Stavanger, Norway
  3. 3. Chronic Diseases Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Population Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  4. 4. Department of Pathology, Dr. Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  5. 5. Departments of Mycobacteriology & Pulmonary Research, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
  6. 6. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran
  7. 7. Microbiology Research Center (MRC), Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran

Source: Scientific Reports Published:2021


Abstract

Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) infects most people asymptomatically, but recent reports indicate that the virus may be related to carcinogenesis. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of MCPyV on the development of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). Totally, 1057 samples, including 412 fresh biopsy samples (FBS) and 645 paraffin-embedded PTC biopsy samples (PEBS), and 1057 adjacent non-cancerous samples were assessed for the presence of MCPyV DNA and RNA. MCPyV DNA was positive in 215 (20.3%) of samples, including 126 (30.6%) in FBS and 89 (13.8%) in PEBS. In MCPyV-positive samples, the mean MCPyV copy number was higher in the patients with FBS (2.3 × 10–1 ± 0.5 × 10–1 copies/cell) compared to PEBS (0.7 × 10–4 ± 0.1 × 10–4 copies/cell) and adjacent non-PTC normal samples (0.3 × 10–5 ± 0.02 × 10–5 copies/cell), indicating a statistically significant difference (P < 0.001). The LT-Ag RNA expression was higher in FBS compared to PEBS, while VP1 gene transcript was not detected in any samples. Although our findings showed the presence of MCPyV in a subset of PTC Iranian patients, further research is required to confirm these findings. © 2021, The Author(s).