Several studies have suggested a possible link between human cytomegalovirus infection and various malignancies particularly colon adenocarcinoma.The present study investigates whether HCMV participates in human colon tumorigenesis by the detection of HCMV proteins within epithelial cells of colorectal carcinoma using Immunohistochemistry (IHC) technique.formalin – fixed, paraffin – embedded specimens of adenocarcinoma, and normal tissues were obtained from the margins of the excision as a control, those specimens were tested by IHC to detect the presence of HCMV proteins using two types of mouse monoclonal antibodies as mixture of monoclonal antibodies to an early and immediate early proteins (pp43 & pp76, respectively). The results of IHC assay showed specific nuclear and cytoplasmic reaction of HCMV proteins within the epithelial cells of colon adenocarcinoma (82.60%), the study showed no nuclear or cytoplasmic reaction in any case of control group . In view of the many cellular modulatory properties of this virus, our data justify further studies to establish whether HCMV interfere with the pathogenesis of colon adenocarcinoma.
