Breast Cancer Risk and Human Papillomavirus Infection: A Bradford Hill Criteria Based Evaluation

Abstract

Background: The association between human papillomavirus (HPV) and human breast cancer (BC) has already been thoroughly studied worldwide with contradictory findings. Although the researchers have tried to minimize the conflict using statistical meta-analysis, because of its shortcomings, there is still a need to evaluate the correlation between HPV and BC using any additional method. Objectives: This study was launched to investigate the correlation between HPV and BC through the application of Bradford Hill criteria postulates. Methods: Population-wide studies associating HPV with BC were searched using the PubMed database. Then, the information of HPV burden in BC, normal/benign samples was analyzed, and ultimately Bradford Hill criteria postulates were applied on the collected evidence to explore the relationship between HPV and BC. In addition, to make the outcomes more authentic, we also reviewed the methodologies of previous studies to address the propensity of false results. Results: After a careful evaluation of the obtained data against major Bradford Hill criteria postulates, it was noted that all these postulates including strength, consistency, biological gradient, temporality, plausibility, experiment, specificity, and analogy were not fulfilled. Conclusion: The results of the present study have failed to establish a casual association between HPV and BC rather suggested HPV as a cause-effective agent or at least a co-participant in the pathogenesis of BC. The weakness of association especially the low level of consistency across studies, and the lack of specificity of effect, there is a need for more experiments concerning Bradford Hill criteria postulates.

Bioinformatics Method Was Used to Analyze the Highly Expressed Gene FAM83A of Breast Cancer in Young Women

“…Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genome (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis were used to identify the efficacy of genes. In this study, the application of the clusterProfiler package in the RStudio software device to the corresponding differences in the overall survival of breast cancer shows that the gene holds GO elaboration and KEGG elaboration; P < 0.05 is considered to have statistical significance ( Figure 1 ) [ 25 ].…”

High rate of high-risk human papillomavirus among benign and breast cancer patients in Ethiopia

“…The presence of HPV in malignant breast tumors has been reported, indicating a potential role of HPV in the early stage of breast cancer and breast carcinogenesis [7][8][9][10][11]. The existence of a causal link between HPV infection and breast cancer is still subject to debate; while some research revealed a higher risk consistent with a possible role of HPV in the development of breast cancer [5,8,10,[12][13][14][15][16][17][18], other studies found no such association [19][20][21][22][23][24]. Data, however, is limited in Ethiopia.…”

Prevalence of cancer in relation to signs of periodontal inflammation

“…Interestingly, during the covid-19 pandemic, the virus has been shown to enhance the metastatic spread of breast cancer [14]. In earlier studies, human papillomaviruses, in particular have been investigated in this respect, but causality has not been confirmed [15]. We have previously investigated the association of periodontitis with breast cancer in our long-term followup investigation and observed that if a woman had periodontal disease and any missing molars in the mandible, 5.5% had breast cancer in comparison to 0.5% of the subjects who had a periodontal disease but no missing molars in the mandible [16].…”