AGE-DEPENDENCE OF HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS DNA-PRESENCE IN ORAL SQUAMOUS-CELL CARCINOMAS

The aetiology of oral cancer is thought to be multifactorial. Apart fr om the two known major risk factors (tobacco and alcohol), a viral aet iology has been proposed, with special reference to human papillomavir us (HPV). 35 cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), seen at the Departments of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery and Oral Pathology and Ot olaryngology of the Free University of Amsterdam, were analysed as wel l as 12 biopsies of clinically and histologically normal gingival muco sa collected from healthy individuals after tooth extractions, using t he polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and two different sets of primers t hat are able to detect a broad spectrum of HPV types. An overall HPV p ositivity of 54.3% in OSCC was found, the majority of positive cases ( 78.9%) harbouring HPV type 16. In contrast, no positivity for HPV was detected in the clinically normal oral mucosal samples analysed. Furth ermore, a significant association between HPV presence and age was fou nd: patients older than 60 years showed a lower prevalence of the viru s (29.4%) compared with patients below this age (77.8%) (P < 0.05). Th e results from the present study suggest an association between HPV an d OSCC, particularly in patients under the seventh decade.