Abstract
Most research providing evidence for the role of oncogenic viruses in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) development is focused on one type of virus without analyzing possible interactions between two or more types of viruses. The aim of this study was to analyse the prevalence of co-infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and polyoma BK virus (BKPyV) in oral, oropharyngeal and laryngeal squamous cell carcinomas in Polish patients. The correlations between viral infection, SCC, demographic parameters, evidence of metastases and grading were also investigated. Fresh-frozen tumour tissue samples were collected from 146 patients with laryngeal, oropharyngeal and oral cancer. After DNA extraction, the DNA of the studied viruses was detected using polymerase chain rection (PCR) assay. Males (87.7%) with a history of smoking (70.6%) and alcohol abuse (59.6%) prevailed in the studied group. Histological type G2 was recognized in 64.4% cases. The patients were most frequently diagnosed with T2 stage (36.3%) and with N1 stage (45.8%). Infection with at least two viruses was detected in 56.2% of patients. In this group, co-infection with HPV/EBV was identified in 34.1% of cases, EBV/BKV in 23.2%, HPV/BKV in 22.0%, and HPV/EBV/BKV in 20.7%. No difference of multiple infection in different locations of cancer was observed. The prevalence of poorly differentiated tumours (G3) was more frequent in co-infection with all three viruses than EBV or BKV alone. A significant correlation was observed between tumour dimensions (T) and lymph-node involvement (N) in co-infected patients compared to single infection. Further studies are necessary to clarify whether co-infection plays an important role in the initiation and/or progression of oncogenic transformation of oral, oropharyngeal and laryngeal epithelial cells.
Highlights
Head and neck cancer accounts for more than 550,000 cases and 380,000 deaths annually worldwide [1]
It is estimated that approximately 90% of all head and neck cancers are squamous cell carcinoma (SCC)
Among 146 infected patients, human papillomavirus (HPV)/Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) co-infection was observed in 34.1% of cases, HPV/BK virus (BKV) in 22.0% of cases, and EBV/BKV in 23.2%
Summary
Head and neck cancer accounts for more than 550,000 cases and 380,000 deaths annually worldwide [1]. In Europe, in 2012, there were approximately 250,000 cases (an estimated 4% of cancer incidence) and 63,500 deaths due to malignancy in this area [2]. It is estimated that approximately 90% of all head and neck cancers are squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Molecular and epidemiological research has provided evidence of the role of oncogenic viruses in SCC development [4,5,6,7]. The relationship between infection with EBV and the development of cancer in the head and neck region was reported by many researchers [11,12,13,14]
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