Lack of association between herpes simplex virus type 2 infection and cervical cancer--Taq Man realtime PCR assay findings.

BACKGROUND About one third of the human population suffer cancer during their lifetime and more than 20% of total morbidity is related to neoplasia. Cervical cancer is generally the most common cancer in developing countries and the second most common in women globally. The role of human papilloma viruses viruses in its induction is clear. However, the involvement of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) is controversial. Therefore a survey was conducted of the prevalence of HSV-2 in patients with cervical cancer and also healthy people with sensitive and quantitative Taq Man real-time PCR assay. MATERIALS AND METHODS Seventy six formaldehyde fixed paraffin embedded tissue specimens from patients with histologically proven history of cervical cancer as well as 150 control blocks were sectioned for deparaffinization and DNA extraction. RESULTS There was no HSV-2 DNA in our patient specimens but four control samples were positive, all with a history of hysterectomy. CONCLUSION Considering the absence of any positive viral HSV-2 DNA in our patients and also the presence of four positive specimens among our controls, we did not find any relationship between the presence of HSV-2 DNA and cervical cancer.