Co-incidence of Human Papillomaviruses and Epstein–Barr Virus Is Associated With High to Intermediate Tumor Grade in Human Head and Neck Cancer in Syria

Abstract

High-risk human papillomaviruses (high-risk HPVs) have been recently reported to be co-present with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in different types of human cancers including head and neck (HN), where they can cooperate in the initiation and/or progression of this cancer. Accordingly, we herein explored the prevalence of high-risk HPVs and EBV in 80 HN cancer tissues from the Syrian population using polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemistry, and tissue microarray methodologies. We report that high-risk HPVs and EBV are present in 35/80 (43.7%) and 41/80 (51.2%) of our samples, respectively, and the most frequent HPV types are 33, 16, 18, 45, 52, 58, 35, 51, and 31, in this order. More significantly, our data reveal that 25/80 (31.2%) of cancer cases are positive for high-risk HPVs as well as EBV, and their co-presence is associated with high/intermediate-grade squamous cell carcinomas. These data confirm the co-presence of high-risk HPVs and EBV in HN cancers in the Syrian population of the Middle East and demonstrate that their coincidence is linked to a more aggressive cancer phenotype. Thus, future studies are required to confirm these data and elucidate the exact role of high-risk and EBV cooperation in human HN carcinogenesis.

Copresence of High-Risk Human Papillomaviruses and Epstein–Barr Virus in Colorectal Cancer: A Tissue Microarray and Molecular Study from Lebanon

“…In our present study, we explored the copresence of high-risk HPVs and EBV in human CRC cases in the population of Lebanon. Interestingly, it has been recently pointed out that these oncoviruses can be copresent in several types of human cancers including cervical, oral, breast, and CRC, and their copresence varies from 12 to 50% of the cases [ 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 75 , 85 , 86 , 87 , 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 ]. Although, various studies reported an association between EBV presence and CRC [ 35 ], evidence on the role of EBV in CRC is contradictory since the majority of studies that indicate a positive association are based on PCR or IHC assays, alone or in combination with other techniques.…”

“…In addition, it has been demonstrated that the copresence of HPVs and EBV is associated with tumor grade and stage in human carcinomas [ 43 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 91 ]. Accordingly, we found in our study that HPVs and EBV are copresent in 28% of the CRC samples in Lebanon.…”

The co-presence of high-risk human papillomaviruses and Epstein-Barr virus is linked with tumor grade and stage in Qatari women with breast cancer

“…Of note, our previous studies exploring HPV and EBV in different types of cancers using PCR and IHC yielded comparable results. 29 , 41 , 84 , 85 …”

Human Papilloma Virus: Current Knowledge and Focus on Oral Health

“…Gene amplification (polymerase chain reaction) is a PCR technology invented in April 1983 by Kary B. Mullis who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this in 1993. It is a biomolecular technique that allows the exponential amplification in vitro of a given DNA sequence defined as target DNA [ 42 , 43 ].…”