No evidence of known types of human papillomavirus in squamous cell cancer of the oesophagus in a low-risk area. Rotterdam Oesophageal Tumour Study Group.

Controversial results regarding the presence and role of human papillomavirus in the development of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma have been published. We used multiple broad-spectrum polymerase chain reactions to identify HPV DNA in oesophageal carcinomas from a low-incidence area. Paraffin embedded- and snap-frozen specimens from oesophageal cancer tissues of 63 patients were examined with a PCR technique with several primer pairs, capable of detecting most known HPV types. In none of the oesophagus cancer tissues could HPV DNA be detected. The role of HPV in this type of carcinoma in a low incidence area remains unclear.