Human Cytomegalovirus in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Southeast of Iran
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Updated: Mar 31, 2026

Intramucosal Inoculation of Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cells in Mice for Tumor Immune Profiling and Treatment Response Assessment
Published on: April 22, 2019
Shirin Saravani1, Hamideh Kadeh1, Ebrahim Miri-Moghaddam2
1Oral and Dental Disease Research Center, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Faculty of Dentistry, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, IR Iran.
Background:
Carcinogenesis is a multi-step process and the role of infectious agents in this progression has not been fully identified. Since human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is frequently presented in the gingival sulcus fluid, we hypothesized that this virus would be important in the pathogenesis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC).
Objectives:
The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of active HCMV in different histopathological grades of OSCC in southeast of Iran.
Materials And Methods:
Forty eight individual specimens were evaluated in this study. Serial sections were obtained from paraffin-embedded tissue samples of OSCC biopsies. The frequency of HCMV was investigated using the real-time polymerase change reaction method after DNA extraction from biopsies.
Results:
The mean age of the patients (66.7% female and 33.3% male) was 58.6 years. Only three cases (6.3%) of the grade I, OSCC biopsies, were positive for active HCMV with average load of 57.7 × 10(3).
Conclusions:
According to the low prevalence of HCMV in OSCC, it seems that this virus plays a minor role in this kind of cancer at least in southeast of Iran. More comprehensive studies are needed to investigate the oncomodulatory effect of this virus on OSCC.
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