Traces of JC polyomavirus in papillary thyroid cancer: a comprehensive study in Iran

Abstract

Background JC polyomavirus (JCPyV) is known to induce solid tumors such as astrocytomas, glioblastomas, and neuroblastomas in experimental animals, and recent studies have shown that the virus may be correlated with carcinogenesis. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of JCPyV on the progression of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). Methods A total of 1057 samples, including 645 paraffin-embedded PTC biopsy samples (PEBS) and 412 fresh biopsy samples (FBS), and 1057 adjacent non-cancerous samples were evaluated for the presence of JCPyV DNA and RNA. Results We observed that 10.8% (114/1057) samples, including 17.5% (72/412) FBS and 6.5% (42/645) PEBS were positive for the JCPyV DNA. Among the JCPyV-positive samples, the mean JCPyV copy number was lower in patients with PEBS (0.3 × 10–4 ± 0.1 × 10–4 copies/cell) compared to FBS (1.8 × 10–1 ± 0.4 × 10–1 copies/cell) and non-PTC normal samples (0.2 × 10–5 ± 0.01 × 10–5 copies/cell), with a statistically significant difference (P < 0.001). The LT-Ag RNA expression was lower in PEBS than in FBS, while no VP1 gene transcript expression was found. Conclusions Although our results confirmed the presence of JCPyV in some Iranian patients with PTC, more research is needed to verify these results.