cytomegalovirus and langerhans cell histiocytosis: is there a link?

Background: langerhans cell histiocytosis is a rare proliferative histiocytic disease of unknown etiology. histologically, it is characterized by granuloma-like proliferation of langerhans-type dendritic cells derived from bone marrow. many investigators have suggested the possible role of viruses such as epstein-barr virus, human herpesvirus-6 (hhv-6), herpes simplex virus (hsv) types 1 and 2, and cytomegalovirus in the pathogenesis of langerhans cell histiocytosis. objectives: in this study, we have investigated the presence of cytomegalovirus in langerhans cell histiocytosis in iranian children. patients and methods: in this retrospective study, we have investigated the presence of cytomegalovirus dna expression, using paraffin-embedded tissue samples of 30 patients with langerhans cell histiocytosis and 30 age and site-matched controls by qualitative polymerase chain reaction (pcr) method. results: no significant difference in prevalence of cytomegalovirus presence between patients and controls was found. cytomegalovirus was found by qualitative pcr in only 2 (6.66%) out of 30 patients and in 1 (3.3%) of 30 control samples with a p value of 1 (1.00 > 0.05) using chi-square test with or: 2.07; 95% ci of or: 0.18 - 24.15. conclusions: our findings do not support the hypothesis of a possible role for cytomegalovirus in the pathogenesis of langerhans cell histiocytosis.