Differential mRNA expression of selected genes involved in PCa oncogenesis (c-MYC, AURKB, CDC20, EP300, MDM2, TP53, RB1, CHEK2, CDKN-1B, CDKN2A, BRCA1, BRCA2, RAD51, CDK2, CDKN1A, RAD9A, MRE11, ATR, BCL2, PSA, and AR) showed statistically significant differences only in the expression of AR (EBV-positive: 2.02, EBV-negative: 1.99; p = 0.01), CHEK-2 (EBV-positive: − 0.35, EBV-negative: 0.36; p = 0.001), CDKN-1B (EBV-positive: 1.90, EBV-negative: 1.69; p = 0.03), and CDC-20 (EBV-positive: − 0.02, EBV-negative: 0.08; p-value = 0.003) (Fig. 3A; Table S1). Here, CDK2 is linked to posterior cortical atrophy.