The first reports suggesting HPV involvement in development of sino-nasal (SNC), laryngeal (LC), bronchial (BC) and esophageal cancer (EC) date back to the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. This overview summarizes the evidence accumulated during the past 35 years, based on timely meta-analytical data of the published literature.
Literature published on HPV detection in sino-nasal-, laryngeal-, bronchial- and esophageal cancers and their benign counterparts (papillomas) was subjected to 7 separate meta-analyses published in 2012-2015. In all reports, the effect size was calculated as event rates (95% CI), with homogeneity testing using Cochran Q and I2 statistics. Meta-regression was used to test the impact of study-level covariates.
Of sino-nasal carcinomas, 35 eligible studies, covering 492 SCCs from different geographic regions were included. Of those, 133 (27.0%) cases tested HPV-positive; effect size 0.305 (95% CI, 0.260-0.355; FE model), and 0.330 (95% CI, 0.249-0.423; RE model). Of laryngeal SCCs, 180 studies were eligible comprising a sample size of 7,353 larynx squamous cell carcinomas from different geographic regions. Of these cases, 1,833 (25%) cases tested HPV-positive considering all methods; effect size 0.269 (95%CI 0.242-0.297; RE model). Exactly 100 studies on lung cancer were eligible, covering 7,381 lung cancer cases (different histological types). In total, 1,653 (22.4%) samples tested HPV-positive; effect size was 0.348 (95% CI=0.333-0.363; FE model), and 0.220 (95% CI=0.18-0.259; RE model). Of bronchial papillomas, 15 studies were eligible, covering 89 bronchial SCPs. Altogether, 38 (42.7%) cases tested HPV-positive; effect size 0.422 (95% CI: 0.311–0.542; FE model), and 0.495 (95% CI:0.316–0.675; RE model). Of the 1,177 abstracts found on ESCC, 152 studies were determined to be eligible. These 152 studies covered a total of 10,234 ESCC cases, analysed by different HPV detection methods in different geographic regions. Altogether, 3,135 (30.6%) tested HPV-positive, translating to an effect size of 0.372 (95% CI 0.360 – 0.384; FE model) and 0.290 (95% CI 0.251 – 0.31; RE model). Of ESCPs, 39 studies were eligible, covering 427 ESCPs from different geographic regions. In total, 132 (30.9%) cases tested HPV positive; effect size 0.375 (95% CI 0.319–0.434) using FE model and 0.412 (95% CI 0.295–0.540) using RE model
The results of the 7 published meta-analysis indicate that the reported wide variability in HPV detection in NSC, LC, BC and EC is not due to the HPV detection techniques, but is best explained by the geographic origin of the study, except in SNC. In LC, also the histological type is a significant study-level covariate.