Some recent studies demonstrate that the urinary tract is alternative common site for HPV infection in men. Although urine is often used for investigating HPV infection in the urinary tract, a significance of HPV detected form urine samples has been not understood. We investigated the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) in the genital and urinary tract among the patients with prostate cancer (Group A), ones with an elevated level of prostate specific antigen (PSA) with no evidence of prostate cancer (Group B), and ones with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) without an elevated PSA (Group C). We compared HPV prevalence in glans and urine samples between the groups
A total of 325 patients (42 cases in group A, 84 in group B, and 199 in group C) were enrolled in this study. Rubbed cells samples of glans and urine ones were collected from each patient, and sediment cells were preserved in liquid-based cytology solution, respectively. The β-globin gene was first amplified to confirm the adequacy of the extracted DNA in all samples. HPV-DNA and genotype was determined using GENOSEARCH-31 (BML, Co., Ltd., Nagoya, Japan).
Mean age in group A, B, and C was 77.1, 68.2, and 72.7 years, respectively. Among the adequate samples, HPV was detected in 14.6% (6 cases), 16.6% (11 cases), and 26.8% (47 cases) of glans samples in group A, B, and C. HPV prevalence was higher in group C, but there were no significant differences between the groups. On the other hand, HPV prevalence in urine samples of group A, B, and C, was 12.5% (5 cases), 3.6% (3 cases), and 7.1% (13 cases), respectively. High-risk HPV was identified in 7.5% (3 cases) in group A, 3.6% (one case) in group B, and 3.8% in group C. In urine samples, there were also no significant differences in HPV prevalence between the groups, while high-risk HPV showed a significant higher prevalent in group A than in group B and C (p<0.05).
We found a higher prevalence in urine samples of the patients with prostate cancer, suggesting an interesting issue whether HPV infection in urinary tract can play any roles in pathogenesis for men, especially in the development of tumors in the urinary tract.