Immunofluorescent evidence of prior herpes simplex virus type-2 infection in prostate carcinoma

The finding of herpes simplex virus type-2 (HSV-2) particles in prostatic carcinoma (PCa) tissue has led to speculation that the virus might cause this disease. We studied 27 PCa and 33 benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) specimens for the presence of HSV-2 antigens by indirect immunofluorescent staining to HSV-2 using commercially prepared rabbit anti-HSV-2 and fluorescein-tagged goat and anti-rabbit antibody. The slides were randomly number coded by an impartial referee then read independently by each investigator. In cases of disagreement, new slides were prepared and read until agreement. The code was then broken. Seven of 27 PCa specimens and 8 of 33 BPH specimens showed positive staining. By contingency table analysis, the results were not statistically different (chi 2 = 0.0224; p greater than 0.8). In our series, there is no difference in the prevalence of HSV-2 staining between PCa and BPH. Further examination of our data failed to show any difference in the prevalence of staining for HSV-2 based on whether the source of the tissue was surgical or autopsy. We conclude that HSV-2 infection of the prostate is common (15/60 = 25%) but probably has no causal relationship to PCa.