To analyze the concomitant expression of human papillomavirus-16 in the pathogenetic model of p53-dependant pathway in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Human Papillomavirus-Attributable Head and Neck Cancers in India-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

PURPOSE

Head and neck cancer accounts for about one third of the global burden in India. Mucosal high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) has been hypothesized as a contributory risk factor for head and neck cancer (HNC) but its prevalence in Indian patients is not well established. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to estimate the prevalence of HPV in HNC in India and their attributable fraction by considering the biomarkers of carcinogenesis, p16, and HPV E6/E7 mRNA.

METHODS

A systematic literature search was done in Medline via PubMed, Embase, Scopus, ScienceDirect, ProQuest, and Cochrane to identify studies on HPV and HNC in the Indian population, published between January 1990 and October 2022. Fifty-four eligible studies were identified and relevant clinical information was collected. Meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the pooled prevalence of HPV DNA, p16INK4a, and E6/E7 mRNA percent positivity by random-effect logistic regression model using Metapreg, STATA 18.

RESULTS

Thirty-four high-quality studies were taken for meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of HPV in HNC was 20% (95% CI, 12 to 32) with a high level of heterogeneity (I2 = 90.79%). The proportion of HPV in oropharyngeal cancer (OPC; 22% [95% CI, 13 to 34]) and laryngeal cancer (LC; 29% [95% CI, 17 to 46]) was higher than in oral cancer (OC; 16% [95% CI, 8 to 30]). The HPV-attributable fraction of OPC, considering the E6/E7 mRNA and p16 positivity, was 12.54% and 9.68%, respectively, almost similar to LC (11.6% and 9.57%), while it was much lower in OC (3.36% and 4%).

CONCLUSION

The HPV-attributable fraction is considerably lower for OC, suggesting a negligible causative role of HPV in OC. A significant proportion of OPC and LC are attributed to HPV; however, their exact causative role is unclear because of the presence of other known risk factors.

Atherosclerosis by Virus Infection—A Short Review

Atherosclerosis manifests by the thickening of artery walls and their narrowed channels through the accumulation of plaque. It is one of the most important indicators of cardiovascular disease. It can be caused by various factors, such as smoking, a high cholesterol diet, hypertension, hyperglycemia, and genetic factors. However, atherosclerosis can also develop due to infection. It has been reported that some bacteria and viruses can cause the development of atherosclerosis. Examples of these viruses are influenza viruses, herpes viruses, hepatitis viruses, or papillomaviruses, which are all prevalent and eminent globally for infecting the population worldwide. Moreover, many patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) showed symptoms of cardiovascular disease. In this review paper, the viruses linked to the development of atherosclerosis are introduced, and their viral characteristics, the mechanisms of the development of atherosclerosis, and the current vaccines and antiviral treatment methods are summarized.

Novel Biomarkers of Early Atherosclerotic Changes for Personalised Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Cervical Cancer and Human Papillomavirus Infection

Cervical cancer is associated with a causative role of human papillomavirus (HPV), which is a highly prevalent infection. Recently, women with a genital HPV infection were found to have increased incidence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), including severe cardiovascular events such as myocardial infarction and stroke. The pathomechanisms of this relation are not yet fully understood, and may significantly affect the health of a large part of the population. Accelerated atherosclerosis is assumed to play a key role in the pathophysiology of this relationship. To identify high-risk groups of the population, it is necessary to stratify the CVD risk. Current algorithms, as widely used for the estimation of CVD risk, seem to be limited by the individual misclassification of high-risk subjects. However, personalised prediction of cardiovascular events is missing. Regarding HPV-related CVD, identification of novel sensitive biomarkers reflecting early atherosclerotic changes could be of major importance for such personalised cardiovascular risk prediction. Therefore, this review focuses on the pathomechanisms leading to HPV-related cardiovascular diseases with respect to atherosclerosis, and the description of potential novel biomarkers to detect the earliest atherosclerotic changes important for the prevention of CVD in HPV infection and cervical cancer.