Detection and quantification of human papillomavirus in benign and malignant parotid lesions

Background/Aim: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is implicated in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. However, the causal role of HPV in carcinoma of the parotid gland remains uncertain and less documented. This study aimed to determine the potential implication of HPV in the development of benign and malignant lesions of the parotid gland. Materials and Methods: Paraffin-embedded biopsies were obtained from 40 patients with benign parotid gland tumors and 39 patients with parotid gland carcinomas. The 79 samples were evaluated for the presence of HPV DNA using both GP5+/GP6+ consensus Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and type-specific E6/E7 PCR to detect 18 HPV types. Results: Our results showed a low prevalence of HPV, with only three HPV-positive cases among the 40 benign tumors and one infected carcinoma in the malignant population. Conclusion: No association between the presence of HPV DNA and the development of parotid gland tumors was found in our study. Since Syrjanen et al. first suggested that human papillomavirus (HPV) might be involved in oral carcinogenesis in 1983, studies have been dedicated to examining the presence of HPV infection in the upper aerodigestive tract (1). The presence of HPV is increasingly accepted as being an independent risk factor in the development of head and neck cancer. Indeed, over the last 10 years, it has been proven that a subset of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs), including tonsil carcinomas, is associated with high-risk HPV infection. A case control study comparing 100 patients with OSCC and 200 controls demonstrated that oral HPV infection was strongly associated with oropharyngeal carcinoma among patients who did not have the classical risk factors of tobacco and alcohol use (2).