Detection of Toxoplasma gondii and High-Risk Human Papillomaviruses in FFPE Malignant and Benign Breast Lesions Using Real-Time PCR.

OBJECTIVE

Breast cancer is the most prevalent malignancy among women. In recent years, it has been suggested that various pathogens such as Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) and human papillomavirus (HPV) may play a potential role in the development of breast cancer. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of T. gondii and HPV infections in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue samples of breast cancer patients using real-time PCR.

METHODS

The study included 136 paraffin-embedded biopsy samples with w confirmed malignant breast tumor diagnosis and 50 breast tissue samples diagnosed as benign breast lesions, serving as controls. The presence of T. gondii DNA and high-, medium-, and low-risk HPV genotype DNAs were investigated using the real-time PCR method. First, deparaffinization was performed using xylene and alcohol, followed by DNA extraction and real-time PCR amplification.

RESULTS

The most common histopathological types of malignant breast carcinoma were invasive carcinoma (n=82; 60.3%), invasive lobular carcinoma (n=26; 19.1%), invasive ductal carcinoma (n=8; 5.9%), and mixed invasive carcinoma (n=8; 5.9%). According to the Modified Bloom-Richardson classification, 55.15% of malignant breast tumor samples were grade 2, 32.4% were grade 3, and 12.5% were grade 1. Real-time PCR analysis did not detect T. gondii DNA or HPV DNA in any of these samples.

CONCLUSION

Our findings do not support a role of T. gondii and HPV in breast cancer development. To better understand the possible relationship between breast cancer and these pathogens, further studies with larger sample sizes, diverse diagnostic methods, and broder geographical coverage are necessary.