• Background & Aim: Among the risk factors has been suggested for esophageal cancer, the infection with cancer-causing viruses are also addressed. Epstein - Barr virus (EBV) is one of the carcinogenic viruses that it can infect epithelial cells and causes malignancies. Some studies have proposed the role of EBV in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma (ESCC), but the results are varied in different studies. The aim of this study was to determine the existence of EBV genome in ESCC and non-cancerous or normal tissue samples.

Materials & Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 100 paraffin embedded tissue samples of ESCC and 68 non-cancer tissue samples were enrolled. After deparaffinization of tissue samples, DNA was extracted. Extracted DNA was evaluated by Real Time PCR using a specific primers and probe for EBV.

Results: EBV EBER gene in 10 cases (10%) of esophageal cancer samples and in 3 (4/4%) of the non-cancerous control samples were positive, which can indicate the presence of EBV in cancer and noncancerous cells of esophagus.

Conclusion: In particular, the prevalence of EBV DNA in non-cancerous control samples was less than esophageal cancer, but the findings cannot confirm or deny the role of EBV in the development of esophageal cancer and studies with larger sample sizes are recommended.