Presence of Human Papillomavirus DNA in Malignant Neoplasia and Non-Malignant Breast Disease

Abstract

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women worldwide. Multiple extrinsic and intrinsic factors are associated with this disease’s development. Various research groups worldwide have reported the presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA in samples of malignant breast tumors. Although its role in mammary carcinogenesis is not fully understood, it is known that the HPV genome, once inserted into host cells, has oncogenic capabilities. The present study aimed to detect the presence of HPV DNA in 116 breast tissue biopsies and classify them according to their histology. It was found that 50.9% of the breast biopsies analyzed were malignant neoplasms, of which 74.6% were histologically classified as infiltrating ductal carcinoma. In biopsies with non-malignant breast disease, fibroadenoma was the most common benign neoplasm (39.1%). Detection of HPV DNA was performed through nested PCR using the external primer MY09/11 and the internal primer GP5+/6+. A hybridization assay genotyped HPV. HPV DNA was identified in 20.3% (12/59) of malignant neoplasms and 35% non-malignant breast disease (16/46). It was also detected in 27.3% (3/11) of breast tissue biopsies without alteration. However, there are no statistically significant differences between these groups and the existence of HPV DNA (p = 0.2521). Its presence was more frequent in non-malignant alterations than in malignant neoplasias. The most frequent genotypes in the HPV-positive samples were low-risk (LR) HPV-42 followed by high-risk (HR) HPV-31.

Human papillomaviruses and breast cancer: A systematic review and meta‑analysis

“…Studies published in the last 20 years confirm the controversial nature of the alleged association of HPV with BC. There are reports which favor the impact of HPVs in BC oncogenesis (21,75,78,(80)(81)(82)84,89), while other studies have confirmed a limited or nonexistent role of HPVs in the development of BC (3,7,18,74,76,77,79,83,(85)(86)(87)(88)(90)(91)(92).…”

“…The 23 included studies involved a total of 3,243 breast tissue samples, collected between 2004 and 2022 from nine countries worldwide (Table SIV) (3,7,18,21,(74)(75)(76)(77)(78)(79)(80)(81)(82)(83)(84)(85)(86)(87)(88)(89)(90)(91)(92). A total of six continental regions (Asia, Europe, Oceania, north Africa and South America) were represented.…”

“…Breast cancer (BC) is globally considered as a marked disease burden (1). It is not only the most prevalent, accounting for one third of cancer cases in female patients, but the breast is also the malignancy site associated with the majority of cancer-related deaths in developed and developing countries (2)(3)(4). BC incidence rates have steadily increased internationally over the last 10 years by ~20% (4,5).…”

Molecules at Play in Cancer

“…The 24 chapters present the contributions of 166 researchers from 16 countries: Brazil (14), China (12), Ecuador (2), Greece (10), Hungary (8), Italy (4), Japan (25), Korea (29), Mexico (11), Poland (5), Portugal (2), Russia (2), Switzerland (7), the UK (1) and the USA (27). The articles reported new molecular findings regarding the following types of cancer: blood [ 1 , 2 ], breast [ 3 , 4 , 5 ], kidney [ 6 ], liver [ 7 , 8 ], lung [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ], ovary [ 10 , 13 , 14 ], prostate [ 15 ], soft tissue [ 16 ], gastric [ 17 , 18 ], testicular [ 19 ], cervical [ 20 , 21 ], and adrenal gland [ 22 ].…”

“…The significance of infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) in the development of breast cancer was tested by Maldonado-Rodríguez et al [ 4 ] through quantifying the presence of the HPV DNA in 116 formalin-fixed breast tissues of 59 malignant neoplasms, 5 in situ neoplasms, 1 borderline neoplasm and 20 benign neoplasms. The study concluded that virus presence is not a sufficient condition for developing cancer.…”