Role of human papillomavirus in the development of epithelial ovarian neoplasms in Italian women

Abstract

The presence of HPV could be an expression of a latent infection. In both positive and negative HPV ovarian neoplasms, cervix showed only chronic cervicitis and no signal for HPV DNA on PCR analysis.

Prevalence of human papillomavirus in epithelial ovarian cancer tissue. A meta‐analysis of observational studies

“…In reviewing the reference list in these articles, we identified one more article. Of the 35 identified studies, 22 were considered relevant after thorough examination. The remaining 13 studies were excluded for the following reasons: they were case reports ( n = 4) ; the data from these were included in another study ( n = 3) ; the paper reported HPV prevalence in serum and not HPV DNA in ovarian cancer tissue ( n = 1) ; endometrial and ovarian cancer were not differentiated ( n = 1) ; the information about how data were acquired was inadequate ( n = 1) ; the study included fewer than five ovarian cancer cases ( n = 1) ; the study only included borderline tumors ( n = 1) or the study was retracted after publication because of an error ( n = 1) .…”

“…The characteristics of the studies included are presented in Table . In most studies, the subjects were women with ovarian cancer of epithelial origin , and ovarian cancer was classified into histological subtypes , serous ovarian cancer being the most common. Two publications failed to report the type of ovarian malignancy .…”

“…Two publications failed to report the type of ovarian malignancy . In nine studies a total of 10 non‐epithelial and 66 borderline/benign ovarian tumors were tested for HPV. These 76 cases were excluded from our analyses.…”

“…Eleven studies were conducted in Europe, five in Eastern Europe and six in Western Europe . Six studies were conducted in Asia and the remaining five studies originated from North America .…”

“…The theory of an ascending infection may be supported by studies in which the same HPV type was found in cervical specimens and in ovarian tumors . Others have rejected the theory of an ascending infection, as their examination of the cervix revealed the presence only of chronic cervicitis and no presence of HPV DNA , or no presence of HPV in the ovaries of patients with cervical cancer .…”