P07-14EXAMINING LUNG CANCER TISSUE FOR HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS

23. HPV in non oro genital cancers
E. Argyri 1, E. Tsimplaki 1, C. Marketos 2, G. Politis 2, E. Panotopoulou 1.
1Virology Department, Saint Savvas General Anticancer Hospital, Athens, Greece (Greece), 2Pulmonary Department, Saint Savvas General Anticancer Hospital, Athens, Greece (Greece)

Background / Objectives

Lung cancer is the leading cancer worldwide among men and women with morbidity reaching 1.6 million. Human Papillomavirus is the causal factor of cervical cancer, as well as a subset of oropharyngeal cancers, while its association with others is still under investigation. The purpose of this study was to examine lung cancer tissues for the presence of HPV and its possible implication in lung oncogenesis.


Methods

Lung tissues were collected during bronchoscopy from 60 patients. One part of the tissue was referred for biopsy and the other part was subjected to HPV testing. Nucleic acids were extracted using the QIAamp DNA Mini Kit (Qiagen). PapilloCheck® HPV-Screening  (Greiner Bio One) was used for the type-specific identification of 24 types of HPV (15 high-risk types: 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, 68, 73 and 82, probable high risk types 53, 66 and 7 low-risk types: 6, 11, 40, 42, 43, 44/55 and 70). A commercial real time NASBA assay (NucliSENS EasyQ HPV 1.1, bioMerieux) was performed for the qualitative detection of HPV E6/E7 mRNA of five high-risk HPV types (16, 18, 31, 33 and 45) according to the manufacturer’s instructions.


Results

60 lung tissue samples were analysed. The age range was 49-85 years old (y.o) with a mean age of 67.7 y.o. 7 patients were female and 53 were male. All patients had cancer: the study included 9 Small Cell Lung Cancers (SCLC) and 51 Non Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) (28 AdenoCa, 20 SCC and 3 not defined NSCLC). 53 patients were smokers, 6 were former smokers and 1 was non smoker. Two patients were found positive in the HPV test: a male smoker with SCLC and a female smoker with AdenoCa. The two positive samples were subjected to E6/E7 mRNA test and were found negative. Furthermore, the two positive patients had no prior history of an HPV related disease.


Conclusion

Using the mRNA test as a gold standard for the association of HPV with malignant transformation, the present results showed no association of HPV status with lung cancer. Further investigation of more lung cancer tissues is required to reach safe conclusions.


References