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Updated: Jul 7, 2026
Isolation and Quantification of Epstein-Barr Virus from the P3HR1 Cell Line
Published on: September 28, 2022
Detection of Epstein-Barr virus in breast carcinoma in Egyptian women
Shereen Fawzy1, Maha Sallam, Nahla Mohammad Awad
1Medical Microbiology and Immunology Department, Faculty of Medicine Ain Shams University, Abbassia, Cairo, Egypt. shereenfh@hotmail.com
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.
