BioProject

BACKGROUND: Infection with high-risk types of human papillomavirus (hrHPV) is associated with cervical, anogenital and oropharyngeal cancers. More...

BACKGROUND: Infection with high-risk types of human papillomavirus (hrHPV) is associated with cervical, anogenital and oropharyngeal cancers. A role for hrHPV in lung cancer has been proposed, although previous reports on the contribution of hrHPV infection to lung cancer have provided contradictory results. The current study evaluated hrHPV prevalence in lung tumor specimens of different histological subtypes in a Western study population using a validated test algorithm for hrHPV detection in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tumor specimen (i.e., GP5+6+-PCR and p16INK4A immunohistochemistry). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Tumor tissue specimens from 228 lung cancer patients were subjected to GP5+6+-PCR and p16INK4A immunohistochemistry. hrHPV-positive tumors were further characterized using genotyping of GP5+/6+-PCR products, HPV E7 transcript analysis, loss of heterozygosity (LOH) analysis and array comparative genomic hybridization (arrayCGH), and the clinical history of patients was retrieved. RESULTS: Three patients (3/228, 1.3%) with hrHPV-positive lung tumors were identified, revealing hrHPV types 16, 18 and 33, respectively. All three patients (1 male, 2 females) had a history of hrHPV-associated disease; two cervical carcinoma, and one oropharyngeal carcinoma. Further characterization revealed identical hrHPV genotype, pattern of p16INK4A expression, HPV E7 mRNA expression, and genomic aberrations in the individual pairings of lung tumor and foregoing hrHPV-associated cancer. CONCLUSION: The present study found molecular evidence that supports association of hrHPV in lung cancer with the presence of pulmonary metastasis of a hrHPV-positive cancer that originated elsewhere, and not with primary lung cancer in a Western population. Overall design: 2 lung cancer samples (FFPE), 1 cervical cancer sample (FFPE), 1 head and neck cancer sample (FFPE) Less...