Amongst high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPV), HPV-16 infection is the most prevalent causative factor for cervical cancer. Beside other mucosal targets, HPV-16 was reported to infect the placenta and to replicate in trophoblastic cells. Since these cells share invasive properties of tumoral cells, they represent an ideal model to investigate several oncogenic processes. In the present work, we analyzed the impacts of HPV-16 E5, E6 and E7 oncoproteins on the trophoblastic model. Our results showed that E5 impaired the viability of trophoblastic and cervical cell lines but E6 and E7, favouring cell growth, neutralised the E5 cytotoxic effect. In addition, E5 decreased the adhesiveness of trophoblastic cells to the tissue culture plastic and to endometrial cells similarly as previously described for E6 and E7. E5 and E6 plus E7 increased also their migration and their invasive properties. Cells expressing HPV-16 early proteins under the control of the LCR endogenous promoter displayed growth advantage and were also more motile and invasive compared to control cells. Interestingly, the E-cadherin was down regulated in trophoblastic cells expressing E5, E6 and E7. NF-κB and AP-1 activities were also enhanced. In conclusion, HPV-16 early proteins enhanced trophoblastic growth and intensify the malignant phenotype by impairing cell adhesion leading to increased cellular motile and invasive properties. HPV-16 E5 participated, with E6 and E7, in these changes by impairing Ecadherin expression, a hallmark of malignant progression.

A strategy combining human papillomavirus general primer (mainly the PGMY primers)-directed PCR sequencing and type-specific PCR is presented. DNA samples were first tested in general primer-mediated PCR. The amplified fragments of positive samples after ethidium bromide-stained DNA gel analysis were further sequenced, and corresponding DNA samples were further analyzed by PCR using type-specific primers for human papillomavirus ( It is now well accepted that all cervical carcinomas contain at least one of the "high-risk" types of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA (41). Over 100 HPV genotypes have been isolated to date. Among these more than 40 have been shown to infect the genital tract, and 15 of them (genotypes 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, 68, 73, and 82) have been found to be associated with cervical cancer or high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and therefore classified as high-risk types (31). In contrast, some HPV genotypes (6,11,40,42,43, 44, 54, 61, 70, 72, 81, and CP6108) are classified as low-risk types (31). Three additional types were classified as probable high risk (26, 53, and 66) while the risk of those previously undetected remains undetermined (31). Differences in geographic distribution of HPV types have been reported to exist between countries (10).Multiple concurrent and sequential infections with different oncogenic types of HPV are common, usually transient, and disappear spontaneously without clinical lesion. Only persistent high-risk HPV infection induces higher risk for the development of a high-grade precancerous lesion or cervical cancer (14,41,43). Since the absence of HPV infection means that the risk of cervical cancer is negligible, testing for HPV has now been incorporated into screening programs that previously relied only on cytology (6). HPV DNA analysis has shown encouraging results when used in conjunction with cytological analysis in primary screening for cervical cancer in women 30 years of age or older (5, 23). As a result of large randomized clinical trials, testing for HPV DNA is now recommended for most women with equivocal findings on cervical cytological analysis (atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance, also called ASCUS) (1, 28). Furthermore, HPV DNA testing provides a unique advantage for early detection of treatment failure (3,9,33,42). Recently, encouraging results with prophylactic HPV vaccines have been reported. These vaccines are believed to be effective against four different HPV types, including the most frequently encountered type, HPV-16. This further emphasizes the need for HPV DNA testing, which will be useful to guide vaccination and to monitor the frequency and the severity of infection by unaffected HPV types (15,20,21).Highly sensitive HPV DNA tests have been developed that rely on molecular biology techniques. For example, the FDA approved the HPV detection kit of Digene/Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2) manufactured by DiGene (MD). Within this test, genotype-specific RNA probes are mixed in a highrisk or a low-risk...

BackgroundBased on the well-recognized etiological role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in cervical, anogenital and oropharyngeal carcinogenesis, a potential role of HPV in colorectal carcinogenesis has been suggested. For that reason, the aim of the present study was to investigate the presence of HPV DNA in colorectal carcinomas (CRC) and to study overexpression of p16INK4A as a marker for the presence of an active HPV oncoprotein E7. These findings were correlated with clinical and pathological prognostic factors of CRC.MethodsThe presence of HPV was assessed using a multiplex PCR system of 10 non-biotinylated primers. The amplified fragments of HPV positive samples were further analyzed by a highly sensitive, broad spectrum SPF10 PCR and subsequently genotyped using reverse hybridization in a line probe assay.P16INK4A protein expression was investigated in a subset of 90 (30 HPV positive and 60 HPV negative) CRC samples by immunohistochemistry.ResultsHPV DNA was found in 14.2% of the CRC samples with HPV16 as the most prevalent type. No significant differences in clinical and pathological variables were found between HPV positive and negative CRCs, except for age. HPV positive patients were significantly younger (p = 0.05). There was no significant correlation between the presence of HPV and overexpression of p16INK4A (p = 0.325).ConclusionsIn conclusion, the presence of oncogenic HPV DNA in a small cohort of CRC samples may suggest that HPV may be involved in the carcinogenesis of some CRC. However, contrary to what has been observed in head and neck squamous cell cancer and cancer of the uterine cervix, p16INK4A does not seem to be a surrogate marker for an active HPV infection in CRC. Therefore, further functional analyses are necessary to elucidate the role of HPV in CRC.

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Human papillomavirus (HPV) is an epitheliotropic virus typically infecting keratinocytes but also possibly epithelial trophoblastic placental cells. In the present study, we set out to investigate whether HPV can be recovered from transabdominally obtained placental cells to avoid any confounding contamination by HPV-infected cervical cells. Thirty-five placental samples from women undergoing transabdominal chorionic villous sampling were analyzed, and we detected HPV-16 and HPV-62 in 2 placentas. This study suggests that HPV infection of the placenta can occur early in pregnancy. The overall clinical implication of these results remains to be elucidated.

Ovarian cancer patients with germline or somatic pathogenic variants benefit from treatment with poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors. Tumor BRCA1/2 testing is more challenging than germline testing as the majority of samples are formalin‐fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE), the tumor genome is complex, and the allelic fraction of somatic variants can be low. We collaborated with 10 laboratories testing BRCA1/2 in tumors to compare different approaches to identify clinically important variants within FFPE tumor DNA samples. This was not a proficiency study but an inter‐laboratory comparison to identify common issues. Each laboratory received the same tumor DNA samples ranging in genotype, quantity, quality, and variant allele frequency (VAF). Each laboratory performed their preferred next‐generation sequencing method to report on the variants. No false positive results were reported in this small study and the majority of methods detected the low VAF variants. A number of variants were not detected due to the bioinformatics analysis, variant classification, or insufficient DNA. The use of hybridization capture or short amplicon methods are recommended based on a bioinformatic assessment of the data. The study highlights the importance of establishing standards and standardization for tBRCA testing particularly when the test results dictate clinical decisions regarding life extending therapies.

BackgroundTargeted therapy against the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) is among the most promising molecular therapeutics for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC). However, drug resistance limits the clinical efficacy of anti-EGFR monoclonal antibodies and no predictive biomarker has entered the clinic yet.MethodsA retrospective clinical study was performed utilizing pathological specimens from 52 newly diagnosed HNSCC patients. These patients were screened for mutations in EGFR and KRAS. Tyrosine kinase mutations in EGFR and KRAS mutations were evaluated by high resolution melting analysis (HRMA), whereas EGFRvIII was determined using one-step real-time PCR. Finally, patient samples were screened for HPV-DNA by GP5+/6+ PCR. Survival analysis was performed using Kaplan-Meier analysis and significance was calculated using log-rank statistic.ResultsIn our study population no EGFRvIII mutations were present. However, two silent mutations were found; T785T in exon 20 and R836R in exon 21 of the EGFR gene. Additionally, HRMA revealed an abnormal KRAS melting pattern in 7.0% of the samples. However, the KRAS StripAssay could confirm only one sample with a G12S mutation and none of these samples could be confirmed by direct sequencing. HPV DNA was present in 3/25 larynx and 9/27 oropharynx tumors.ConclusionThe low rate of EGFR and KRAS mutations in this Belgian HNSCC population suggests that these genes will probably not play a major role in predicting response to anti-EGFR therapy in HNSCC. Hence, other predictive markers need to be discovered in order to optimize EGFR targeting therapy.

BackgroundThe complexity of delivering precision medicine to oncology patients has led to the creation of molecular tumourboards (MTBs) for patient selection and assessment of treatment options. New technologies like the liquid biopsy are augmenting available therapeutic opportunities. This report aims to analyse the experience of our MTB in the implementation of personalised medicine in a cancer network.Materials and methodsPatients diagnosed with solid tumours progressing to standard treatments were referred to our Phase I unit. They underwent comprehensive next generation sequencing (NGS) of either tumour tissue or cell-free circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) or both. The MTB expressed either a positive or negative opinion for the treatment of the patients with discovered druggable alterations inside a clinical trial, in an expanded access programme, with a compassionate use. Afterwards, discovered alterations were matched with OncoKB levels of evidence for the choice of alteration-specific treatments in order to compare MTB outcomes with a standardised set of recommendations.ResultsNGS was performed either on ctDNA or tumour tissue or in both of them in 204 patients. The MTB evaluated 173 of these cases. Overall, the MTB proposed alteration-specific targeted therapy to 72 patients (41.6%). 49 patients (28.3% of the total evaluated) were indicated to enter a clinical trial. In 29 patients with matched liquid biopsy NGS (lbNGS), tumour tissue NGS (ttNGS) and MTB evaluation, the MTB changed the treatment strategy coming from standardised recommendations based on lbNGS and ttNGS alone in 10 patients (34.5%), thanks to the evaluation of other clinical parameters. In our cohort, lbNGS was more likely, compared with ttNGS, to detect point mutations (OR 11, 95% CI 2.9 to 24.1, p<0.001) and all-type alterations (OR 13.6, 95% CI 5.5 to 43.2, p<0.001) from the same genes of matched patients.ConclusionsOur MTB allows patients with refractory cancer to be included in clinical trials and improves the precision of clinical decisions compared with a standardised set of mutation-driven recommendations.