Studies have shown that HPV might play a role in the pathogenesis of a portion of oral leukoplakia (OL) cases, nevertheless, highly variable HPV detection rates in this disorder suggests the need for further researches aiming to elucidate which factors might be involved in the development of OL, better explaining the participation of HPV in this process. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the presence of HPV-16 and HPV-18 DNA, which is the oncogenic genotype of greater relevance, in different biological samples from patients with oral leukoplakia, and the correlation of these factors with sociodemographic and clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis of OL.
Fourty patients with OL will compose the study group, and a control group of 40 healthy patients requiring pre-prosthetic oral surgery will be matched to the patients of the study group by sex and age. Tissue, saliva, and blood plasma samples will be obtained from patients of both groups. HPV-16 and HPV-18 DNA detection will be performed in the tissue, saliva, and plasma blood samples from both groups by Real Time PCR (RT-PCR) technique. Furthermore, immunohistochemistry analysis will be performed for p16INK4A in paraffinized tissue samples for evaluating the presence of HPV and the activity of the virus.
Until this moment, a pilot study was performed analyzing the HPV-16 detection among 5 OL patients. Descriptive analysis of clinicopathologic features of these patients demonstrated that most of patients were male (60%), and age ranged from 45 to 66 years old (average = 55.2). Two (20%) were old-aged, 40% were middle-aged, and 40% were young. All patients were current smokers (100%), while none was never or ex-smoker. Most of patients with OL were current drinkers (80%), and 20% were ex-drinkers, while none was never-drinker. 60% of the 5 OL lesions analyzed until this moment displayed some degree of epithelial dysplasia. HPV-16 DNA was not present in none (0%) of fresh tissue and saliva samples from the 5 patients included in the study until now.
No relevant conclusion is possible at this moment. However, further analyses are necessary for better understanding this preliminary study.
1. Syrjänen, S, Lodi G, von Bültzingslöwen I, Aliko A, Arduino P, Campisi G, Challacombe S, Ficarra G, Flaitz C, Zhou HM, Maeda H, Miller C, Jontell M. Human papillomaviruses in oral carcinoma and oral potentially malignant disorders: a systematic review. Oral dis. 2011;17(1):58-72.
2. Gillison ML, Castellsagué X, Chaturvedi A, Goodman M, Snijders P, Tommasino M, Marc Arbyn, Franceschi S. Eurogin Roadmap: Comparative epidemiology of HPV infection and associated cancers of the head and neck and cervix. International Journal of Cancer. 2014 Feb; 134(3): 497–507.
3. Chaturverdi A. Global burden of human papillomavirus-positive head and neck cancers. The Lancet Oncology. 2014; 15(12):1282–1283.