The authors previously reported statistically significant inverse associations between adult onset
glioma and histories of
chickenpox and
shingles among 462 cases and 443 controls in the San Francisco Bay Area Adult
Glioma Study (1991--1995) and a suggestive but nonsignificant inverse association with
immunoglobulin G antibodies to varicella-zoster virus in a small subset of these cases. This report considers
antibodies to four common herpesviruses (
varicella zoster,
herpes simplex, cytomegalovirus, and Epstein Barr) among 134 cases and 165 controls that represent all subjects for whom usable blood specimens were available. The prevalences of
immunoglobulin G antibodies to varicella-zoster virus, herpes simplex virus, cytomegalovirus, and Epstein-Barr virus were 90%, 71%, 57%, and 90%, respectively. After adjustment for age, White versus non-White ethnicity, and gender,
glioblastoma cases were less likely than controls to have
immunoglobulin G antibodies to varicella-zoster virus (odds ratio = 0.4; 95% confidence interval: 0.1, 0.9). They were also somewhat less likely to have
antibodies to Epstein-Barr virus but somewhat more likely to have
antibodies to herpes simplex virus and cytomegalovirus. Antibody prevalences to all four herpesviruses were similar between cases with other
glioma histologies and controls. These results corroborate our previously suggestive findings of an inverse association of varicella-zoster virus
antibodies with adult onset
glioma.