Detection of human papillomavirus DNA and genotyping in patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in Turkish patients with epithelial ovarian cancer by using the highly sensitive technique of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to identify all the subtypes of this unique oncogenic virus.

Methods: All patients were subjected to initial surgery, and subsequently recruited for postoperative chemotherapy depending on the extent of the disease and their condition. HPV PCR screening was done from paraffin embedded samples. PCR amplifications were done using the MY09/11 primer set after digestion and phenol-chloroform extraction of the DNA. HPV PCR-positive samples were analyzed and genotyped using an OpenGene automated DNA sequencing system.

Results: Overall, 94 patients were included in this study. The mean age was 52.7 years (range, 21-76 years). As a histopathologic diagnosis, the majority of the patients had serous papillary tumors (81%). HPV was found to be positive in eight patients (8.5%). All of the positive patients had serous papillary tumors (8/76, 10.5%) and advanced stage disease. Six patients had HPV type 16, and the remaining two patients had HPV type 33. None of the patients had more than one type of HPV.

Conclusion: HPV may have a role in the carcinogenesis of ovarian cancer. It is worth investigating this possible relation both in large case-control studies and in vitro models by using more sensitive techniques.