Laboratorio de Oncovirología, Programa de Virología, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas (ICBM), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8380000, Chile.
Departamento de Otorrinolaringología, Hospital Clínico Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8380000, Chile.
Viruses. 2022 Jun 2;14(6):1212. doi: 10.3390/v14061212.
High-risk human papillomaviruses (HR-HPV) are the causal agents of an important subset of oropharyngeal cancers that has increased considerably in incidence in recent years. In this study, we evaluated the presence of HPV in 49 oropharyngeal cancers from Chilean subjects. The presence of HPV DNA was analyzed by conventional PCR, the genotypes were identified through sequencing, and the expression of E6/E7 transcripts was evaluated by a reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Additionally, to determine p16 expression-a surrogate marker for oncogenic HPV infection-a tissue array was constructed for immunohistochemistry (IHC). HPV was detected in 61.2% of oropharyngeal carcinomas, the most prevalent genotype being HPV16 (80%). E6 and E7 transcripts were detected in 91.6% and 79.1% of the HPV16-positive specimens, respectively, demonstrating functional HPV infections. Furthermore, p16 expression was positive in 58.3% of cases. These findings show a high prevalence of HR-HPV in oropharyngeal tumors from Chile, suggesting the necessity of additional studies to address this growing public health concern.
高危型人乳头瘤病毒（HR-HPV）是近年来发病率显著上升的一类重要口咽癌的致病因子。本研究评估了 49 例来自智利患者的口咽癌中 HPV 的存在情况。通过常规 PCR 分析 HPV DNA 的存在，通过测序鉴定基因型，通过逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）评估 E6/E7 转录本的表达。此外，为了确定 p16 表达——一种 HPV 致癌感染的替代标志物，构建了组织微阵列进行免疫组织化学（IHC）检测。在 61.2%的口咽癌中检测到 HPV，最常见的基因型是 HPV16（80%）。在 HPV16 阳性标本中，E6 和 E7 转录本的检出率分别为 91.6%和 79.1%，表明存在功能性 HPV 感染。此外，58.3%的病例 p16 表达阳性。这些发现表明智利口咽肿瘤中 HR-HPV 的高流行率，提示有必要开展更多研究来解决这一日益严重的公共卫生问题。
