Multifocal human papillomavirus detection in palatine and pharyngeal tonsils

Abstract

Background: Multifocal human papillomavirus (HPV) infection into the palatine and pharyngeal tonsils, which might be linked to a second primary tumor of HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer (OPC), was investigated.

Patients and methods: One hundred and five patients with various head and neck diseases including 14 patients with OPC were enrolled in this study. Swabs from the palatine and pharyngeal tonsils were collected in each individual, and auto-nested GP5+/GP6+ PCR for HPV DNA was performed.

Results: HPV DNA was detected in the palatine tonsil or the pharyngeal tonsil in a small subset of upper respiratory tract cancer other than OPC (URTC) and non-cancer diseases. Furthermore, HPV DNA was detected in both the palatine and pharyngeal tonsils in the same individual in 2 of 48 (4%) URTC cases, and 1 of 43 (2%) non-cancer cases. On the other hand, p16-positive OPC cases demonstrated a higher HPV DNA detection rate (4 of 9, 44.4%) compared with other disease groups.

Conclusion: HPV DNA detection in both the palatine and pharyngeal tonsils in the same individual, especially in HPV-OPC, suggested the ability of HPV to infect tonsillar tissues of Waldeyer’s ring multifocally.

Chinese abstract

背景：探讨了多重人乳头状瘤病毒（HPV）对腭咽扁桃体的感染, 它可能与HPV阳性口咽癌（OPC）的次原发性肿瘤有关。

患者与方法：本研究包括105例各种头颈部疾病患者, 其中14例OPC患者。对每个患者采收腭咽扁桃体拭子, 并进行自动嵌套的GP5 +/GP6 + PCR以检测HPV 染色体。

结果：在OPC（URTC）和非癌症疾病以外的一小部分上呼吸道癌症中, 在腭扁桃体或咽扁桃体中检测到HPV的 DNA。此外, 在48例（4％）URTC病例中的2例和43例（2％）非癌症病例中的1例中, 在同一患者的腭扁桃体和咽扁桃体中均检测到HPV的 DNA。另一方面, 与其他疾病组相比, p16阳性OPC病例中HPV的 DNA检出率更高（9例中有4例, 44.4％）。

结论：同一患者的腭扁桃体和咽扁桃体中HPV 的DNA检测, 尤其是HPV-OPC中HPV 的DNA检测提示, HPV能多重感染Waldeyer环的扁桃体组织（AQ1/）。

Keywords:

• Human papillomavirus
• palatine tonsil
• pharyngeal tonsil
• oropharyngeal cancer
• auto-nested PCR

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. P. Howley for providing p1203 PML2d HPV16.

Disclosure statement

The authors reported no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing the paper.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported in part by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP26462598 and JP17K11394 and research grants from the Daiwa Securities Health Foundation (42-17) and the Support Unit for Conducting Clinically Essential Studies in St. Luke’s International University (2016).