Detection of cutaneous HPV types 4 and 24 DNA sequences in breast carcinoma in Singaporean women of Asian ancestry

Presence of human papillomavirus DNA in breast cancer: a Spanish case-control study

BACKGROUND

Breast cancer is one of the most important neoplasia among women. It was recently suggested that biological agents could be the etiological cause, particularly Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). The aim of this study was to explore the presence of HPV DNA in a case-control study.

METHODS

We performed our study including 251 cases (breast cancer) and 186 controls (benign breast tumors), using three different molecular techniques with PCR (GP5/GP6, CLART® and DIRECT FLOW CHIP®).

RESULTS

HPV DNA was evidenced in 51.8% of the cases and in 26.3% of the controls (p < 0.001). HPV-16 was the most prevalent serotype. The odds ratio (OR) of HPV within a multivariate model, taking into account age and breastfeeding, was 4.034.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study, with methodological rigour and a sample size not previously found in the literature, demonstrate a significant presence of HPV DNA in breast cancer samples. A possible causal relationship, or mediation or not as a cofactor, remains to be established by future studies.

Inconclusive role of human papillomavirus infection in breast cancer

BACKGROUND

Epidemiological studies have examined the association between human papillomavirus (HPV) and breast cancer, but the findings are inconclusive. This study aimed to detect the prevalence of HPV in breast cancer tissue in patients from northeastern China and define the association between HPV and breast cancer using meta-analysis.

METHODS

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to test cutaneous or mucosal HPV DNA sequence in 77 breast cancer samples and 77 corresponding adjacent normal tissues. The prevalence of HPV in breast cancer was estimated by pooling data from 38 studies. A meta-analysis of 16 case-control studies was conducted to investigate the association between HPV and breast cancer.

RESULTS

We did not find HPV DNA sequence in any of the 154 tissue specimens we tested. However, our meta-analysis revealed a HPV prevalence of 30.30 % (95 % confidence interval [CI] = 22.30-38.40 %) among breast cancer cases; most of these involved high-risk HPV types (35.50 %, 95 % CI = 25.00-46.10 %). HPV prevalence in breast cancer varied by geographic region, publication period, and PCR detection method. An increased risk of breast cancer was observed in association with exposure to HPV (odds ratio [OR] = 3.24, 95 % CI = 1.59-6.57), which was influenced by geographic region, HPV DNA source, PCR primer used, and publication period.

CONCLUSIONS

HPV, especially high-risk HPV types, may be associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, and this association varies dramatically among geographic regions.

Prevalence of human papillomavirus in breast cancer: a systematic review

OBJECTIVE

We performed a systematic review and meta-analyses to estimate the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) in breast carcinoma and to explore the reasons for the ongoing controversies about this issue.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A comprehensive search of the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, CANCERLIT, LILACS, and EMBASE databases was performed for papers published from January 1990 to January 2011. The medical subject heading terms were searched for the following: breast neoplasm, breast lesions, breast cancer, and HPV or human papillomavirus. Statistical analysis was performed using REVMAN 5.0.

RESULTS

Twenty-nine primary studies, including 2211 samples, were analyzed. Overall, HPV prevalence in patients with breast cancer was 23.0% (95% CI, 21.2%-24.8%). The prevalence of HPV ranged from 13.4% (95% CI, 10.2%-16%) in Europe to 42.9% (95% CI, 36.4%-49.4%) in North America and Australia. The prevalence of HPV in controls was 12.9%. Combinations of 9 case-control studies showed that breast cancer was associated with HPV (odds ratio, 5.9; 95% CI, 3.26-10.67).

CONCLUSION

We found a high prevalence of HPV DNA in breast cancer. There is strong evidence to suggest that HPV has an important role in the development of breast cancer.

Absence of human papillomavirus sequences in epithelial breast cancer in a Mexican female population

The role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in breast cancer is controversial. We evaluated 118 breast carcinomas and two paraffin-embedded tissues of lesions of the nipple of Mexican patients for HPV sequences. No carcinoma sample exhibited koilocytosis, in contrast to lesions of the nipple. We subjected purified DNAs to PCR employing two HPV16/E6 or GP5/6 primer set oligonucleotides. Results showed that HPV DNA sequences were absent in the breast tissues. Absence of HPV in breast carcinoma failed to support an association between HPV infection and this carcinoma.

Human papillomavirus infection and sporadic breast carcinoma risk: a meta-analysis

Despite an increase in the number of molecular epidemiological studies conducted in recent years to evaluate the association between HPV infection and risk of breast carcinoma, the studies remain inconclusive. Here, a meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the prevalence of HPV in breast carcinoma and test the association. Studies on HPV DNA detection in sporadic breast carcinoma in female using polymerase chain reaction were included. Information on overall and type-specific (HPV 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 45 and 51) HPV prevalence were required, plus detailed descriptions of study populations, HPV DNA source, publication calendar period and PCR primers used for HPV DNA detection and typing. We revealed that 24.49% of the breast carcinoma cases were associated with HPV, 32.42% occurred in Asia and 12.91% in Europe. The four most commonly identified HPV types, in the order of decreased prevalence, were HPV33, 18, 16, and 35. The detection of HPV was mostly influenced by publication calendar period and PCR primers used. In addition, the analysis of ten case-control studies containing 447 breast carcinoma cases and 275 controls showed a significant increase in breast carcinoma risk with HPV positivity (OR = 3.63, 95% CI = 1.42-9.27). These results suggest that it's difficult to rule out the possibility of the association of HPV and breast carcinoma at present according to available publication proofs.