Abstract
BackgroundHuman papillomaviruses (HPVs) and Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), known oncoviruses, can be co-present and cooperate in the initiation and/or progression of human carcinomas, including head and neck. Based on this fact, we recently reported the prevalence of both HPVs and EBV in cervical and breast cancers.MethodsWe herein explore for the first time the co-prevalence of high-risk HPVs and EBV in 98 head and neck (HN) squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) tissues from Bosnian patients using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis, as well as tissue microarray methodology.ResultsThe majority of these cancer tissue cases were from the oral cavity (68%). We found that high-risk HPVs and EBV are co-present in 34.7% of the SCC samples; with a significant correlation between the various HPV types and EBV co-incidence (p = 0.03). Our data showed that 30.8% of oral SCCs are positive for E6 oncoprotein of high-risk HPVs and 44.6% are positive for LMP1 of EBV. The most commonly expressed HPVs in our HNSCC samples include HPV types 16, 18, 45 and 58. Additionally, 37.5% of oral SCCs are positive for both HPVs and EBV, with statistically significant association between high-risk HPV types and EBV (p < 0.05). More importantly, our data revealed that the co-presence of HPV and EBV is strongly correlated with advanced tumor stage (p = 0.035).ConclusionIn this study we show that HPV and EBV oncoviruses are co-present in HNSCC, particularly in oral cancer, where they can cooperate in the initiation and/or progression of this cancer. Thus, further studies are necessary to elucidate the mechanism of this cooperation.
Highlights
Head and neck (HN) cancers are a group of malignant neoplasms arising from the oral cavity, craniofacialAl‐Thawadi et al Cancer Cell Int (2020) 20:361 sarcomas or blastomas [4]
In this study we show that Human papilloma virus (HPV) and Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) oncoviruses are co-present in Head and neck squa‐ mous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), in oral cancer, where they can cooperate in the initiation and/or progression of this cancer
Tobacco consumption is the primary known cause of HN cancers including oral [5] followed by viral infections by high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) that are associated with the development and/or progression of head and neck (HN) carcinomas [7,8,9]
Summary
Head and neck (HN) cancers are a group of malignant neoplasms arising from the oral cavity, craniofacialAl‐Thawadi et al Cancer Cell Int (2020) 20:361 sarcomas or blastomas [4]. Tobacco consumption is the primary known cause of HN cancers including oral [5] followed by viral infections by high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) that are associated with the development and/or progression of head and neck (HN) carcinomas [7,8,9]. Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) and Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), known oncoviruses, can be co-present and cooperate in the initiation and/or progression of human carcinomas, including head and neck. Based on this fact, we recently reported the prevalence of both HPVs and EBV in cervical and breast cancers
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