Human papilloma virus (HPV) antigens and local immunologic reactivity in oral squamous cell tumors and hyperplasias

Abstract

– A series of 191 oral mucosal tumors including those with suspected HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) etiology; squamous cell papilloma (SQP), condyloma acuminatum (CA), focal epithelial hyperplasia (FEH), as well as those regarded as unrelated to HPV; fibrous hyperplasia (FH), papillary hyperplasia (PH), and true fibroma (TF), were analyzed for HPV structural proteins (by indirect immunoperoxidase IP‐PAP technique), for the presence of epithelial dysplasia, and for the cellular composition (B and T lymphocytes, mononuclear phagocytes, (MPS cells)) of their local inflammatory cell infiltrates using ANAE‐(acid α‐naphthyl acetate esterase) stain. HPV structural proteins were disclosed in 85% of FEH, in 75% of CA, and in 41 % of SQP. These three lesions significantly differed from PH and FH with regard to the intensity and cellular composition of the local infiltrates, being most intense and B cell predominated in the latter two. Mild dysplasia was found in 20% of both CA and SQP lesions, the former also showing moderate dysplasia in 12% of cases. The HPV antigen positivity was negatively correlated with dysplasia in CA and SQP, the intensity of the infiltrate showing positive association with dysplasia. The results are discussed in terms of HPV etiology of CA, SQP and FEH, of the host immunologic reactivity against these lesions, as well as of the possible role of HPV in human squamous cell carcinogenesis.

Human papillomavirus infections and oral tumors

“…Jenson et al [38] were the first to report, in 1982, that 2/5 oral SCPs expressed HPV common structural antigens. We confirmed these results by reporting initially, in 1983 [71], 5 HPV-positive papillomas among 9 lesions, and subsequently 40 papillomas, of which 41% stained positively for HPV antigens [72]. The largest series analyzed so far is published by Padayachee and van Wyk [51], who found HPV antigens in 41% of the analyzed 140 samples.…”

“…As early as 1982, Lutzner et al [44] reported the presence of HPV type 2a in one verruca by Southern blot hybridization. Subsequently, immunohistochemistry was used to verify the expression of HPV antigens in oral warts, and HPV detection rates from 45% to 100% have been reported [38,39,47,70,72]. In 1986 Adler-Storthz et al [3] identified HPV types 2 and 4 in 6/11 oral verrucas.…”

“…In a study on oral lesions among an adult Swedish population of 20,333 subjects, a prevalence of 0.1% for FEH was reported [6]. Since the widespread application of DNA hybridization methods, FEH lesions have been detected worldwide, however [52,53,72].…”

“…Of the almost 100 known HPV types, at least the following 25 types have been detected in oral lesions: 1,2,3,4,6,7,10,11,13,16,18,31,32,33,35,40,45,52,55,57,58,59,69,72,73. During the past several years, comprehensive reviews have been published on HPV infections in oral lesions [15,21,27,45,54,73,74,77,85].…”

Human Papillomavirus Infection in Oral Verrucous Carcinoma: Genotyping Analysis and Inverse Correlation with p53 Expression

“…p53 expression was inversely cor- infections in uterine cervical lesions, their prevalence in oral lesions is highly variable, e.g. 0-78% for oral SCC [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] . This variability may stem from differences in the methods used to detect HPV-DNA such as PCR, Southern blot hybridization and in situ hybridization (ISH).…”