ASSOCIATION OF HERPESVIRUS-INFECTION WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF GENITAL CANCER

Clinical observations and epidemiological studies on genital cancer ha ve revealed an association with sexual behavior, thus motivating resea rch into sexually transmitted agents which may be responsible for the neoplasia. In this study, we used the PCR technique to examine the pre sence of CMV, HSV and EBV viruses in 187 cases of human genital lesion s and found that infection with CMV or HSV was associated with cervica l cancer. When we stratified according to HPV status this association was found only for HPV-DNA-negative cases. These findings indicate tha t past infection with CMV or HSV could be interpreted as a surrogate m arker of HPV infection. However, these viruses may play an important r ole themselves in cervical cancer. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.