Tonsillar and other upper aerodigestive tract cancers among cervical cancer patients and their husbands

The study aimed at probing the possible role of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in squamous cell carcinomas of the upper aerodigestive tract, wit h a special reference to tonsillar cancer. We used the Swedish Family Cance r Database to analyse second cancers in the upper aerodigestive tract of wo men first diagnosed with in-situ or invasive cervical cancer. First cancers of their husbands were also analysed. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) were calculated for female and male cancers, adjusted for age at diagnosis , period, sex, socio-economic status and residential area. Among women, inc reases were observed at many sites, but tonsillar cancers were increased on ly among women aged 50 years or more at diagnosis of in-situ cervical cance r (SIR 2.58). The increases at these sites are probably ascribed to the eff ects HPV, smoking, alcohol or their interaction. Husbands of cervical cance r patients developed an excess (SIR over 2.00) of both tonsillar cancer (SI R 2.39 when wife with in-situ cancer and SIR 2.72 when wife with invasive c ervical cancer) and cancer of the tongue. The excess of tonsillar cancer am ong husbands of women with HPV-associated neoplastic lesions of the cervix supports the a priori hypothesis that HPV may be involved in tonsillar carc inogenesis. (C) 2000 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.