Detection of human papillomavirus DNA in bronchopulmonary carcinomas by Hybrid Capture II - A study of 185 tumors

BACKGROUND. Some human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are oncogenic in the cervix and are also associated with benign and malignant proliferations in other o rgans. Currently, the association of HPV with tumors of the lower respirato ry tract is not so clearly defined because the studies are difficult to com pare; series of cases reported from different geographic regions have used frozen or formalin fixed samples and a variety of techniques of HPV detecti on. METHODS. The authors studied the prevalence of HPV in a large series of 185 frozen bronchopulmonary tumor samples with a new solution hybridization te chnique, Hybrid Capture II assay. This test is largely applied in cervical pathology. Its sensitivity is very close to the sensitivity of PCR. It allo ws the detection of 18 mucosal HPV types, divided into 1 oncogenic and 1 no noncogenic group. RESULTS. Oncogenic HPV DNA was detected by the Hybrid Capture II assay in 5 cases (2.7%) of 185 (3 males and 2 females). In the rare positive cases de tected, the authors could not find any consistent morphologic changes class ically associated with HPV infection in anogenital lesions, such as koilocy tosis. CONCLUSIONS. Oncogenic HPV DNA is detected in a small proportion of cases o f bronchopulmonary carcinoma, and thus HPV infection appears to play a limi ted role in the tumorigenesis of most lung carcinomas. Cancer 2000;88:1347- 52. (C) 2000 American Cancer Society.