• Qing'e Jin, Jianrong Su, Donghui Yan, and Shanna Wu.
• Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Second Clinical Medical College of Capital Medical University, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China, fldfhmypaper@163.com.
• Med Princ Pract. 2020 Jan 1; 29 (2): 195-200.

ObjectiveAn association of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection with breast carcinoma (BC) risk has so far been disputed in the literature. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to clarify this relationship.Materials And MethodsAn electronic database search for eligible case-control studies was performed using PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, CNKI, and Wanfang Data until May 17, 2018. The pooled OR and 95% CI were used to estimate the relationship between EBV infection and BC risk using a fixed or random-effects model depending on heterogeneity. Subgroup analysis and meta-regression were used to explore the heterogeneity. Publication bias was assessed using Egger's and Harbord's tests.ResultsA total of 16 studies with 1,279 patients and 814 controls were reviewed based on our inclusion and exclusion criteria. Compared with the control group, EBV infection had a significant association with BC risk (OR 4.75, 95% CI 2.53-8.92, p < 0.01) with significant heterogeneity observed (I2 = 65.3%). The subgroup analysis revealed that region and tissue type might explain potential sources of heterogeneity. The sensitivity analyses yielded stable results. No significant publication bias was observed.ConclusionThe current results suggest that EBV infection is significantly associated with increased risk of BC.© 2019 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.

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