Human papilloma virus associated head and neck cancer: A PCR based study

Abstract

Head and neck cancers (HNC), 90% of which are squamous cell carcinomas (SCC), rank sixth among all malignancies worldwide and comprise 40-50% of the total number of malignancies in India. In addition to alcohol and tobacco usage, which is the major source of oral carcinogens, viruses such as human papilloma virus (HPV) may also contribute to development of the malignancy. The aim of this study was to identify the prevalence of HPV in head and neck cancers using material from metastatic site. A total of 111 cases of neck nodal metastases were included in this study. The primary was identified as oral cavity, oropharynx and nasopharynx. In a subset, the primary remained "unknown." Polymerase chain reaction was carried out to detect HPV DNA on the fine needle aspirates. HPV was detected in 32.4% cases. Maximum positivity was observed in metastases from primary in the oral cavity (47.1%) with tongue (55%), followed by oropharynx (25%) and nasopharynx (5%) cases. In the unknown primary group, HPV was detected in 52.9% cases. Study defines the association of HPV with HNC in population of northern India. There was varied association of HPV depending on site of primary tumor arising in mucosal surfaces of head and neck region.

HPV-16/18 detection does not affect the prognosis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in younger and older patients

“…The role of high-risk HPV in HNSCC has recently been highlighted in the oropharynx (13), oral cavity (14), larynx (15), hypopharynx (11,12) and in HNSCC metastasis (17). The relevance of the high-risk HPV-E6/E7 protein for the carcinogenesis of multiple head and neck sites was demonstrated in transgenic mice (28)(29)(30).…”

“…Cox regression analyses in HNSCC patients with a follow-up of 2,500 days. is well known that there are limitations for paraffin-embedded tissues, particularly as the fixation makes it difficult to purify RNA from paraffin-embedded tissues (17,31,32). Although non-quantitative PCR-based methods do not allow for the determination of infectious activity, these methods are beneficial as they provide greater sensitivity and specificity than in situ hybridisation techniques (20).…”

“…HPV infection has been suggested as a possible etiologic factor for such cases (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16). HPV was detected in a variety of HNSCCs (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)17) and it was suggested to be associated with lesions of potential malignisation in the head and neck (18,19); however, divergent results are found in the literature regarding the role of HPV presence in HNSCC (20,21).…”

Association of uncommon sexual practices with Human Papilloma Virus in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

“…Gan et al [14] 200 55 27.5% Gillison et al [8] 253 55 22% Benjamin et al [7] 167 25 15% [9] 91 67 74% Elango et al [10] 60 29 48.3% Present study 50 21 42% Nagpal et al [15] 110 37 33.6% Barwad et al [12] 111 36 32.4% Koppikar et al [11] 102 32 31% [17] 37% 6% Gan et al [14] 27.5% 2.9% Smith et al [16] 26% 7% Present study 42% 8% Elango et al [10] 48.3% 0% Koppikar et al [11] 31% 5%…”

miR-125b promotes cell death by targeting spindle assembly checkpoint gene MAD1 and modulating mitotic progression

“…In the Indian subcontinent, it comprises of about 50% of all cancers. 17 CIN is a consistent property of primary head and neck tumours, 18 which makes it pertinent to describe SAC defects in HNOC. Meanwhile, 14 miRNAs are reported to be downregulated, while 29 are upregulated in HNOC.…”