Virology

Biography

Biography: Maria Cristina Carlan da Silva

Abstract

Gliomas are the most common brain tumors in adults and are divided into ependymomas, astrocytomas, oligodendrogliomas, and mixed oligo-astrocytomas. Based on malignant tumor behavior, astrocytomas are divided in grade I, II, III and IV and oligodendrogliomas in grade II and III. The higher the grade, the worse the prognosis. One of the most controversial areas regarding brain tumors is the relationship between human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and gliomas. Multiple studies showed the presence of viral nucleic acids and proteins in these tumors, and it has been demonstrated that several viral proteins have the potential to increase cell malignancy. Although the majority of the studies showed a positive association, there are still reports that fail to detect the HCMV in gliomas, and the presence of the virus is a topic of debate and an issue that needs to be resolved. We investigated the presence of HCMV DNA by qPCR in gliomas with different grades of malignancy from Brazilian patients. The UL83 viral region was detected in 4/7 (57%) Astrocytomas I, 9/11 (82%) Astrocytomas II, 7/8 (88%) Astrocytomas III, 6/10 (60%) Astrocytomas IV, 5/7 (71%) Oligodendrogliomas II and 4/7 (57%) Oligodendrogliomas III. In astrocytomas the HCMV DNA copy number correlates with tumor progression until grade III. However it decreases at level IV, possibly due the high levels of necrotic areas in the tissue. Our results confirm the presence of HCMV in gliomas and indicate that there is a correlation of virus presence and tumor progression, supporting further investigation of the virus’ oncomodulatory properties.