Tokuzen Norihiko, Nakashiro Koh-Ichi, Tojo Shin, Goda Hiroyuki, Kuribayashi Nobuyuki, Uchida Daisuke
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Ehime University Graduate School of Medicine, Toon, Ehime 791-0295, Japan.
Oncol Lett. 2021 Jul;22(1):528. doi: 10.3892/ol.2021.12789. Epub 2021 May 14.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a possible carcinogenetic factor in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Previous studies have reported the prevalence of HPV in patients with OSCC. However, the association between HPV and OSCC remains controversial. The present study aimed to clarify the association between HPV infection, p16 protein expression and the clinicopathological characteristics of OSCC. The expression level of HPV-16E6 mRNA and p16 protein, a known surrogate marker of HPV infection, was investigated in 100 OSCC cases using TaqMan reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry staining, respectively. HPV-16E6 mRNA expression level was only detected in one case (1%), and positive expression of p16 was found in 10 cases (10%), including an HPV-positive case. Subsequently, the association between p16 expression level and clinicopathological characteristic factors were analyzed; however, no significant association was found. These results suggested that HPV-16 infection was less likely to cause OSCC in Japan and p16 expression was not a suitable marker for HPV infection in OSCC.
人乳头瘤病毒（HPV）是口腔鳞状细胞癌（OSCC）可能的致癌因素。既往研究报道了OSCC患者中HPV的流行情况。然而，HPV与OSCC之间的关联仍存在争议。本研究旨在阐明HPV感染、p16蛋白表达与OSCC临床病理特征之间的关联。分别采用TaqMan逆转录定量PCR和免疫组织化学染色法，对100例OSCC病例检测HPV-16E6 mRNA表达水平及p16蛋白（一种已知的HPV感染替代标志物）表达情况。仅在1例病例（1%）中检测到HPV-16E6 mRNA表达水平，10例病例（10%）中发现p16阳性表达，其中包括1例HPV阳性病例。随后，分析p16表达水平与临床病理特征因素之间的关联；然而，未发现显著关联。这些结果表明，在日本HPV-16感染不太可能导致OSCC，且p16表达不是OSCC中HPV感染的合适标志物。
