Razi Journal of Medical Sciences

    Background and Aim:Today, several viruses that are responsible for the development of approximately 15% of all human tumors have been characterized.

Human T cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type1 (HTLV-1) , one of the human retroviruses which causes Adult T cell leukemia and Tropical spastic myelopathy, is also associated with other diseases and cancers in humans. This virus is endemic in Khorasan province.

Considering the association of HTLV-1 with cervicovaginal cancers and the endemic prevalence of the virus in Khorasan, this study was designed to investigate the presence of HTLV-1 genome in the tissue specimens of cervicovaginal cancers.

Materials and Methods: In this cross sectional and historical prospective study ,all archived tissue specimens of cervical and vaginal cancers ,diagnosed in a 20 year period(1983-2003) in the Pathology Department of Imam Reza Hospital of Mashhad were elicited and restudied microscopically .Thirty two tissue specimens were tested by PCR , using Tax, Pol and LTR primers and resulted data were analysed by Z test.

Results: The results showed that most of the patients were in their fourth or fifth decades of life about one decade younger than the other worldwide reports. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) was the most frequent histological subtype. In all tissue specimens studied by PCR method, genome of HTLV-1 was not detected.

Conclusion: Despite the endemic prevalence of this virus in Khorasan, no association was noted between HTLV-1 and cervicovaginal cancers in studied Iranian women .