Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this retrospective investigation was (1) to screen the existence of HCMV in pancreatic cancer tissues in relation to the histopathological grading system of such tumor tissues. (2) To evaluate the expression of the (P63) tumor suppressor gene in these tissues. (3) To find out the impact of the coexistence of (HCMV) along with the p63 on the occurring histopathological alterations. METHODS: The current retrospective cohort study included 35 paraffinized pancreatic tissues from the archives of major hospitals and numerous private histopathological laboratories from 2015 to 2020. (Twenty-five pancreatic carcinomatous tissues and 10 biopsies from seemingly normal pancreatic tissues were examined). Tissue slices from the desired tissue blocks were subjected to the immunohistochemistry (IHC) technique to detect Human Cytomegalovirus pp71 and tumor suppressor P63 proteins with aid of monoclonal primary antibodies. RESULTS: The HCMV pp71 proteins were found in 92% (23 out of 25) of pancreatic tumor tissues, while it was in two (20%) of healthy pancreatic tissues. in comparison, the p63 proteins were found in 76% (19 out of 25) of tumor tissues and in four (40%) of their correlative healthy tissues. CONCLUSION: The increased expression of HCMV in malignant pancreatic tissue may indicate its primary or secondary role in the emergence of this type of cancer, whereupon HCMV inactivation may be useful in the treatment of this type of cancer. On the other hand, p63's high levels of expression in malignant pancreatic tumors reflect either an oppressive function or an unfortunate mutation that prevents it from functioning.