No Evidence for Human Papillomavirus in the Etiology of Colorectal Polyps

Abstract

Background While some studies have reported detection of oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) in colorectal tumors, others have not. Methods We examined the association between oncogenic HPV infection and colorectal polyps in a case-control study of individuals with colorectal adenomas (n=167), hyperplastic polyps (n=87), and polyp-free controls (n=250). We performed real-time PCR for HPV-16 /18 DNA, and SPF PCR covering 43 HPV types, on lesional and normal colorectal tissue samples. Plasma antibodies for oncogenic HPV types were assessed via a bead-based multiplex Luminex assay. Results HPV DNA was not found in any of the 609 successfully assayed colorectal tissue samples from adenomas, hyperplastic polyps, normal biopsies adjacent to polyps, or normal biopsies of the rectum of disease-free controls. Also, there was no association between HPV seropositivity for all oncogenic HPV types combined, for either polyp type, and for men or women. When analyses were restricted to participants without a previous history of polyps, among men [adenomas (n=31), hyperplastic polyps (n=28), and controls (n=68)], there was an association between seropositivity and hyperplastic polyps when all oncogenic HPV types were combined (odds ratio=3.0; 95% confidence interval: 1.1–7.9). Conclusions Overall, our findings do not support an etiologic relationship between HPV and colorectal adenomas or hyperplastic polyps; however, our finding suggesting an association between HPV seropositivity and hyperplastic polyps in men may warrant further investigations. Impact After stringent controls for contamination and three methods to assess HPV infection, we report no evidence for HPV in the etiology of colorectal neoplasia for either men or women.

HPV and the Development of Colorectal Cancer

“…Later in 1995, Cheng et al (1995) were the first to report HPV involvement in colorectal carcinoma. However, HPV has continued to be a debatable subject as a carcinogenic agent of colorectal cancer (Gazzaz et al, 2016;Aghakhani et al, 2014;Taherian et al, 2014;Burnett-Hartman et al, 2011;Gornick et al, 2010;Damin et al, 2007;Perez, Abba, Laguens, & Golijow, 2005;Shah, Daniel, Simons, & Vogelstein, 1992;Shroyer et al, 1992). Furthermore, the exact role of HPV in colorectal pathogenesis is somehow not clear.…”

“…Furthermore, the type of studied tissue is the base of all investigations, for example most experiments utilized paraffin tissue blocks which should be cut independently employing sterilized blades, i.e., avoiding contagion during microtome cutting necessitates different sterilized knifes and systematic cleaning of the apparatus. Failure to adapt these procedures may disseminate infection between tissue samples and cause false-positive results (Yavuzer et al, 2011;Burnett-Hartman et al, 2011). Another noteworthy factor is HPV incidence in the studied population.…”

The Aetiological Role of Human Papillomavirus in Colorectal Carcinoma: An Iranian Population- Based Case Control Study

“…(2011) and Burnett-Hartman et al (2013), but some incidence of colorectal carcinoma (Bodaghi et al, 2005;Damin et al, 2007;Motlagh et al, 2007;Chen et al, 2012). This diversity has been explained according to possibility of contamination in sample preparation and testing and different frequency of HPV infection between populations which may be affected of high-risk sexual behaviors (Bodaghi et al, 2005;Burnett-Hartman et al, 2008;Burnett-Hartman et al, 2011).…”

“…The Aetiological Role of Human Papillomavirus in Colorectal Carcinoma: An Iranian Population-Based Case Control Study Reza Ranjbar 1& , Esmaiel Saberfar 2 , Alireza Shamsaie 3 , Ehsan Ghasemian 4& * and colorectal cancer is not clear (Burnett-Hartman et al, 2011).…”

“…It is a complex of multistep and multifactorial events, as an interaction between environmental and life style, sequential genetic alternations and viral infection (Giuliani et al, 2008;Doosti et al, 2011). In the past decade, different scientists have investigated an association between HPV infection and colorectal cancer (Chen et al, 2012), also colorectal cancer originates in epithelial cells and anal tissues, a site known to be associated with HPVrelated malignancies (Burnett-Hartman et al, 2011), but they have screened completely inconsistent results. Some of the studies reporting 14-84 % of colorectal neoplasia positive for HPV DNA, and others detecting slight or no HPV DNA presence in colorectal cancer and adenomatous polyps.…”