Human papillomaviruses in colorectal cancers: A case-control study in western patients.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers. As in other cancer locations, the involvement of human papillomaviruses (HPV) has been suggested but remains highly debated with wide differences among reported prevalence of HPV infection in CRCs.

Aim: To determine the actual prevalence of high risk HPV16 and 18 in a large case-control study.