A correlation study of BK Polyoma Virus infection and prostate Cancer among Sudanese patients - immunofluorescence and molecular based case-control study

Abstract

Background Polyomavirus hominis1, also called BK virus (BKV) is a well-known etiological agent of renal transplant nephropathy and cystitis. Recently, it got great attention from the researcher as a principal predisposing factor for different kinds of cancers including prostate cancer (PCa). Thus, this study aims to determine the correlation between BKV infection and PCa through a descriptive case-control based study. Methods A total of 55 paraffin-embedded tissue blocks of patients with PCa and another 55 tissue blocks from BPH patients were obtained. In parallel, respective urine samples were collected from all the cases and controls. The existence of BKV large T antigen (LTAg) was analyzed by Direct Immunofluorescence assay. Only BKV LTAg positive specimens were further analyzed for the presence of viral DNA by using a conventional PCR then subjected to viral load quantitation by using Q-PCR. Result BKV LTAg was identified in 30% (17/55) of cases tissue specimens and only in 7% (4/55) of the controls tissue specimens with P-value 0.002 and Odd ratio 5.7. The conventional PCR detects the BKV DNA in 16 out of 17 cases specimens while only two out of four controls specimens were identified with a viral DNA. The mean of the BKV DNA load was higher significantly among cases 6733 ± 6745 copies/ml when compared to controls 509.0 ± 792.9 copies/m with a p-value of 0.002. Conclusion More BKV prevalence with high viral load was observed in PCa patients tissue compared to BPH specimens. PCa Gleason scores 9 and 7 were the most cancer grades identified with the presence of BKV DNA. Our findings are thus consistent with a significant link between the BKV infection and the PCa risk. Prostate or seminal fluids should be selected as principal specimens for future studies and can, therefore, be designated as screening samples to find early virus evidence in the prostate tissue. Detection of early virus evidence may help to reduce the risk of PCa cancer due to BKV.

Molecular Characterization of BK Polyomavirus’ Large T Antigen Gene Sequences Detected in Prostate Cancer Tissues of Sudanese Patients

“…A total of 8 samples from our previous work on BKV were studied in this investigation [25]. These samples were randomly selected from 21 positive samples.…”

“…In Sudan, the relationship between viruses and cancer has been studied in only a limited studies [23,24]. In our previous study, the existence of the relationship between BKV and prostate cancer was determined [25] and the molecular characterization of BKV was described because only a few researchers have addressed BKV Subtypes.However, most previous studies have focused only on the isolates related to BKV nephropathy. The effect of each subtype on the clinical implications had previously been highlighted by various researchers [26,27].…”

Inflammation and Prostate Cancer: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Identifying Opportunities for Treatment and Prevention

“…To date, strongly consistent evidence indicates that the BK virus (BKV) is a predisposing factor for different kinds of cancers, including prostate cancer [30,31], while other viruses, such as EBV, CMV, HSV2, HHV-8, XMRV, and HIV have inconsistent or null associations with prostate cancer. Mischitelli et al [32] investigated the presence of BKV sequences in urine, blood, and fresh prostate cancer samples, utilizing a quantitative PCR assay.…”

Prostate Microbiota and Prostate Cancer: A New Trend in Treatment

“…More and more studies suggest that there is a close link between the virus and prostate cancer. Recent studies have suggested that early detection of the virus may help reduce the risk of prostate cancer caused by the virus (108,109). Previous studies have found that the prostate may be the site of HPV replication (110), and most studies have shown that HPV is closely related to prostate cancer (111,112).…”