Association of EBV (Type 1 and 2) with Histopathological Outcomes in Breast Cancer in Pakistani Women

Introduction Breast cancer is one of the major and frequent tumors in the public health sector globally. The rising global prevalence of breast cancer has aroused attention in a viral etiology. Other than genetic and hormonal roles, viruses like Epstein - Barr virus (EBV) also participate in the development and advancement of breast cancer. Aim This study was conducted to detect the frequency of EBV genotypes in breast cancer patients and compare it with histopathological breast cancer changes. Methods Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples of breast cancer (N=60) ages ranged from 22-70 years were collected. EBV DNA was isolated, amplified, typed through PCR, and correlated with histopathological outcomes of breast cancer using SPSS software version 26. Results Our findings suggest that among breast cancer factors, Invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) was the most common pathological pattern found among patients (90%), observed statistically significant (p= 0.01275). In regards to clinical staging, 8 (13.3 %) patients diagnosed with stage I, 39 (65 %) with stage II, and 13 (21.6 %) with stage III reported statistically significant association (p=0.0003). EBV DNA was detected in 68.3% (41/60) breast cancer patients, reported a statistically significant difference between the prevalence of EBV in breast cancer patients and normal samples ( p = 0.001). Of 41 EBV-positive samples, 40 were EBV-1, while only 1 had EBV-2 infection (p < 0.001). No influence on cancer histology was observed. Regarding the association of breast cancer with EBV, histological type (P =0.209), tumor stage (P = 0.48), tumor grade (0.356), tumor sizes (p= 0.976), age (p= 0.1055), tumor laterality (p= 0.533) and ER/PR status (p=0.773) showed no significant association. Conclusion EBV-1 is prevalent in breast cancer patients and associated with IDC in the study area. For conclusive evidence, more studies are required based on a large sample size and by using more sensitive techniques.