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. 2023 Apr 7;15(4):e37265.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.37265. eCollection 2023 Apr.

Human Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Infection Associated With Decreased Risk of Bronchogenic Carcinoma: Understanding How a Previous CMV Infection Leads to an Enhanced Immune Response Against Malignancy

Selena Rashid  1   2 , Amalia Ardeljan  1 , Lexi R Frankel  1   2 , Matthew Cardeiro  1   2 , Enoch Kim  1   2 , Brittany M Nagel  1   2 , Kazuaki Takabe  3   4 , Omar Rashid  1   2   5   6   7   8   9   10
Affiliations

Human Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Infection Associated With Decreased Risk of Bronchogenic Carcinoma: Understanding How a Previous CMV Infection Leads to an Enhanced Immune Response Against Malignancy

Selena Rashid et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Introduction: ​Cytomegalovirus (CMV) causes a long-lasting, asymptomatic infection that reportedly has both advantageous and deleterious effects on tumor progression. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the correlation between CMV infection and the incidence of bronchogenic carcinoma.

Methods: The study was conducted using a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant national database to identify patients both with and without histories of CMV infection using International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10 and ICD-9) codes. Access to the database was granted by Holy Cross Health, Fort Lauderdale for the purpose of academic research with standard statistical methods used to analyze the data. 14,319 patients were included in both the control and CMV-exposed groups and matched by age range and Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) scores.

Results: The incidence of bronchogenic carcinoma was 1.69% (243/14,319 patients) in the CMV group and 6.08% (871/14,319 patients) in the control group. The difference was statistically significant by a p-value of less than 2.6x10-16 with an odds ratio of 0.26 (95% CI: 0.24-0.30). The two groups were also matched for treatment. Further evaluation of the CMV-specific treatment effects on outcomes was limited due to the insufficient number of treated patients in the control group.

Conclusion: This study found a statistically significant correlation between a prior CMV infection and a reduced incidence of bronchogenic carcinoma. This study demonstrates the need for further investigation into how the tumor microenvironment and host immune system are altered by the presence of a latent CMV infection.

Keywords: bronchogenic carcinoma; immunology; malignancy; microbiology; oncology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Diagram depicting how patients were grouped according to various criteria matched by age range and CCI score
Figure 2
Figure 2. Incidence of bronchogenic carcinoma amongst individuals with and without a previous CMV infection matched by age range and CCI score
Figure 3
Figure 3. Age distribution of patients diagnosed with bronchogenic carcinoma with and without a history of CMV infection
Figure 4
Figure 4. Gender distribution of patients affected with bronchogenic carcinoma amongst individuals with and without a previous CMV infection matched by age range and CCI score
Figure 5
Figure 5. Regions of bronchogenic carcinoma development amongst individuals with and without a previous CMV infection matched by age range and CCI score
Figure 6
Figure 6. Prevalence in patients with bronchogenic carcinoma with and without a previous CMV infection matched by age range and CCI score
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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