Gliomas, Efecto protector de haber pasado la varicela,
especialmente frente a cáncer agresivo.
Gliomas. Protective effect of chickenpox.
Stronger for high-grade gliomas.
Varicella zoster virus (VZV) is a neurotropic α-herpesvirus that causes chickenpox and establishes life-long latency
in the cranial nerve and dorsal root ganglia of the host. To date, VZV is the only virus consistently reported to have an
inverse association with glioma. The Glioma International Case-Control Study (GICC) is a large, multisite consortium
with data on 4533 cases and 4171 controls collected across five countries. Here, we utilized the GICC data to confirm
the previously reported associations between history of chickenpox and glioma risk in one of the largest studies
to date on this topic.
Using two-stage random-effects restricted maximum likelihood modeling, we found that a positive history of chickenpox
was associated with a 21% lower glioma risk, adjusting for age and sex (95% confidence intervals (CI): 0.65–0.96).
Furthermore, the protective effect of chickenpox was stronger for high-grade gliomas. Our study provides additional
evidence that the observed protective effect of chickenpox against glioma is unlikely to be coincidental.
Future studies, including meta-analyses of the literature and investigations of the potential biological mechanism, are warranted.
