Section of Pathology, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Policlinico, University of Modena-Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
J Oral Pathol Med. 2012 Jan;41(1):16-20. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0714.2011.01062.x. Epub 2011 Jul 18.
Oral cancer is the sixth most common malignancy in developed countries, representing almost 3% of malignant tumors. Tobacco use and alcohol consumption are well-established risk factors. However, the observation that most patients with oral cancer have not been exposed to these risk factors suggests that additional causes may promote oral carcinogenesis. A link has been suggested between human papillomavirus (HPV) and oral cavity cancer but the significance of HPV contribution to oral carcinogenesis as well as the prevalence of HPV infection in normal oral cavity mucosa remains debated.
In this study, the prevalence of oral HPV infection was evaluated in 81 randomly selected Northern Italian subjects with clinically normal oral mucosa using a nested PCR on DNA extracted by oral smears.
No HPV-related lesions were detectable in any of the smears analyzed by cytological approach. nPCR identified HPV DNA in only one (1.2%) of the specimens obtained from clinically healthy oral mucosa and subsequent characterization assigned the positive case to HPV type 90. These data suggest that the incidence of HPV infection in the healthy population might be very low and that other risk factors are likely responsible to promote oral carcinogenesis.
口腔癌是发达国家第六大常见恶性肿瘤，占恶性肿瘤的近 3%。吸烟和饮酒是明确的危险因素。然而，大多数口腔癌患者并未接触这些危险因素这一观察结果表明，可能存在其他促进口腔癌变的原因。已有人提出人类乳头瘤病毒（HPV）与口腔癌之间存在关联，但 HPV 对口腔癌变的贡献意义以及 HPV 感染在正常口腔黏膜中的流行程度仍存在争议。
本研究通过对口腔拭子提取的 DNA 进行巢式 PCR，在 81 名随机选择的意大利北部临床正常口腔黏膜的受试者中评估了口腔 HPV 感染的流行情况。
通过细胞学方法分析的所有拭子均未检测到 HPV 相关病变。nPCR 仅在从临床健康口腔黏膜获得的 1 份（1.2%）标本中鉴定出 HPV DNA，随后的特征分析将阳性病例归为 HPV 型 90。这些数据表明 HPV 感染在健康人群中的发生率可能非常低，可能还有其他危险因素促进口腔癌变。
