Head and neck HPV infection, which includes epithelium from oral cavity, oropharynx, larynx, hypopharynx and sinonasal tract, represents a serious health care problem because of the association with cancer. About 90% of the head and neck cancers are squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The aetiology of the HNSCC is changing, the tobacco and alcohol consumption are major, common risk factors, but now the role of HPV infection in the development of HNSCC is rising. The objective of this study was to analyze the HPV infection in three biopsies from larynx and one of the oral cavity with suspected papillomatosis.
The HPV detection were performed in the 4 fresh biopsies by the CLART®HPV2 (Genomic, Spain), this assay detected 35 genotypes (HPV -6, -11, -16, -18, -26, -31, -33, -35, -39, -40, -42, -43, -44, -45, -51, -52, -53, -54, -56, -58, -59, -61, -62, -66, -68, -70, -71, -72, -73, -81, -82, -83, -84, -85 and 89). To detect possible infections by other HPVs, all samples were submitted by conventional molecular analysis, using a MY09/11 primer´s and positive samples were sequenced.
The histological result of the 4 patients (two males and two females, mean age 49.0 years) shows that the lesion are compatible with papilomatosis and in one cases was diagnosed with in situ carcinoma (CIS). The PCR confirmed the HPV infection in two samples, one with HPV 6 and the other with HPV 34 both from the larynx. The HPV 34 was detected in the sample with the CIS diagnosis.
The detection of the HPV 6 was the expected because, as the literature refers, the strong association of laryngeal papillomatosis to the low risk genotypes, namely HPV 6 and HPV 11. The detection of the probable high risk genotype HPV 34 in CIS cases is very curious since there is no description in the literature of this genotype in cases laryngeal papillomatosis infections neither in HNSCC cases.