Detection and Quantitation of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) DNA in the Sera of Patients with HPV-associated Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

• Published in: Clinical cancer research 2000-11, Vol.6 (11), p.4171-4175
• Main Authors: CAPONE, Randolph B, PAI, Sara I, KOCH, Wayne M, GILLISON, Maura L, DANISH, Homaira Nawroz, WESTRA, William H, DANIEL, Richard, SHAH, Keerti V, SIDRANSKY, David
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Biological and medical sciences; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - virology; DNA, Viral - blood; Head and Neck Neoplasms - virology; Humans; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Metastasis; Otorhinolaryngology (head neck, general aspects and miscellaneous); Otorhinolaryngology. Stomatology; Papillomaviridae - genetics; Papillomaviridae - isolation & purification; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Tumors
• ISSN: 1078-0432; 1557-3265

The human papillomavirus (HPV) has been implicated as an etiological factor in a subset of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Because circulating tumor DNA has previously been detected in the sera of patients with advanced HNSCC (stage III or IV), we hypothesized that HPV DNA might be present in the sera of HPV-positive HNSCC patients. Serum DNA extracts from 70 patients with HNSCC were screened for HPV using conventional PCR and a real-time quantitative assay. All samples subjected to conventional PCR were further tested by dot blot hybridization, and positives were confirmed by Southern blotting. Paired tumor DNA from archived tissues was then similarly screened for HPV genomic material ( n = 51) or tested by in situ hybridization ( n = 19). HPV-16 DNA was detected with L1 primers in 0 of 65 sera and in 15 of 70 (21%) tumors. Conventional PCR with E7 primers and Southern blot hybridization detected HPV-16 DNA in four (6%) sera. Using real-time quantitative PCR, six samples were found to contain various levels of circulating HPV DNA (mean, 12 copies/ml; range,