Detection of high‐risk human papillomaviruses in fresh breast cancer samples using the hybrid capture 2 assay

Abstract

The etiology of breast cancer remains unknown and the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in breast carcinogenesis is controversial. This study investigated the prevalence of high-risk HPV infections in Chinese women with breast cancer and the possible relationship between high-risk HPV infection and the clinicopathological characteristics of breast cancer. Tumor cells from 224 fresh breast cancer samples and 37 fresh breast fibroadenomas were collected for hybrid capture 2 (HC2) assay. HC2 was the only technique approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for screening for high-risk HPV infection in 2008. The prevalence of high-risk HPV infection in breast cancer samples was 21.4%, which was slightly higher than the 16.2% observed in breast fibroadenomas. Age and menopausal status were not risk factors for high-risk HPV infection among breast cancer patients. The clinical and pathological characteristics of breast cancer showed no significant correlation with high-risk HPV infection. Although the prevalence of 13 subtypes of high-risk HPV infections was similar in breast cancer and nonmalignant breast samples, the presence of high-risk HPVs in both malignant and benign breast samples implies that a possible causal role in breast cancer carcinogenesis could not be ruled out. Clarifying the possible link between high-risk HPVs and breast cancer might benefit women vaccinated against HPV and could decrease the incidence of HPV-related breast cancer.

Presence of human papillomavirus DNA in breast cancer: a Spanish case-control study

“…Most of the published studies do not follow a precise methodology, and the screening criteria used are very heterogeneous. Some studies only consider juvenile malignancies [34], while others include inflammatory breast cancer tissues [48, 49], triple-negative tumors [50], medullary malignancies [51], metaplastic breast cancer [52], papillary lesions [20, 53], Paget’s disease [54], or carcinoma in situ [9, 24, 25, 36, 41, 55–60]. In addition, no standards are used in selecting the molecular technique to screen for viruses, implying the potential detection of different viral serotypes.…”

Detection of Human Papillomavirus DNA in Patients with Breast Tumor in China

“…In total, only 7 studies have published HPV status in BC and non-cancer controls with case-control design in female Chinese [ 34 , 38 , 40 , 41 , 45 , 49 , 50 ]. In 1992, Yu et al reported 15 of 34 BC infected with HPV 33 and both 2 benign and atypical ductal hyperplasia showed negative HPV infection using TS PCR and dot blot hybridization which could detect HPV 16, 18 and 33 [ 34 ].…”

Is Human Papilloma Virus Associated with Breast Cancer? A Review of the Molecular Evidence

“…The URR (upstream regulatory region) was also used [43], and primers for the E1 region [64, 67], microarray [56], multiplex PCR [78], hybrid capture [74], or genotyping kits directly [71]. …”

“…Another evaluated the presence of HPV in milk epithelial cells, but used a PCR technique [72]. Yet another investigated HPV by hybrid capture in intraoperative tumor smears [74]. …”