Anna Sorensen, Bruce Smoller, John Martens, Nicole Pecora, Jun Wang, Kim Handley and Eugene Storozynsky
Background: Survival time after heart transplantation continues to rise due to the use of immunosuppression therapy and other advances in care. However, this increase in patient survival and exposure to potent immunosuppression drugs comes at the expense of long-term complications such as infection and malignancy. In addition to immunosuppression exposure, viral infection has been indicated to play a role in carcinogenesis. While the presence of CMV genome or antigens has been found in malignant tumors, conflicting evidence exists regarding the independent nature of this association. Limited data are available regarding the association of Cytomegalovirus (CMV) in skin cancer development post transplant. Study to detect CMV genome specifically in Non-Melanoma Skin Cancers (NMSC’s) yet to be complete in the heart transplant population.
Methods: This is a single center, retrospective, observational study of adult heart transplant recipients managed by the University of Rochester Advanced Heart Failure program. 10 BCC and 10 SCC lesions of heart transplant recipients housed at the URMC were tested for CMV-PCR, DNA.
Results: CMV was not detected from any of the specimens.
Conclusion: We did not identify a connection between CMV DNA and non-melanoma skin cancers.
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Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medicine received 59 citations as per Google Scholar report
