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Some types of human papillomavirus (HPV) that are implicated in a variety of cancers have been suggested as a risk factor for esophageal cancer. However, the frequency of HPV infection in patients with esophageal premalignant lesions or carcinomas varies as widely as 0% to 88% in different studies, say researchers from Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University, in Zhengzhou, China.
The most common high-risk oncogenic subtypes are HPV-16 and HPV-18. One meta-analysis found HPV-16 in 38% of esophageal cancer cases. But HPV-18 is less defined, the researchers say. They conducted a meta-analysis to determine the prevalence of HPV-18 in China, which has one of the highest rates in the world of esophageal cancer as well as one of the highest rates of HPV prevalence in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
Their analysis of 19 studies included 2,556 cases of esophageal cancer. Overall, the prevalence of HPV-18 was > 4%—less than cervical cancer (15.3%), ovarian cancer (12.2%), laryngeal cancer (6.2%), bladder cancer (5.9%), and lung cancer (5.6%). The estimates of HPV prevalence in esophageal cancer varied widely, the researchers found, by geographic region.
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Although their study doesn’t answer the question of etiology of HPV and esophageal cancer, the researchers say it is an important preliminary step toward evaluating the relationship. They add that their findings could also give some indication of the effect of the HPV vaccine against esophageal cancer.
Source:Guo LW, Zhang SK, Liu SZ, et al. Epidemiol Infect. 2016;144(3):469-477.doi: 10.1017/S0950268815001703.
