Human papillomavirus Prevalence and Genotyping in Penile Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients - Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in penile carcinomas in São Luís, Brazil, and to correlate the virus presence to histopathological factors.
Methods: This was a prospective analytical study of 29 patients submitted to parcial and total penectomy surgery. Data were collected through a survey and medical record analysis. Tumor samples were collected during surgeries and DNA extraction was performed. PCR-Nested technique was used for viral DNA amplification, with PGMY09/11 and GP+5/+6 primers. Automated sequencing analyses were made in order to genotype the HPV types.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 63.2 ± 17.3. Population consisted of a low educated and low socioeconomic status man (82.8%), illiterate (55.2%). Most of the men (62.1%) had not been circumcised, had never used a condom (72.4%), and 51.7% reported the occurrence of some previous sexually transmitted disease (STD). The most prevalent type of lesion was ulcerative (51.7%) and the glans was affected in 93.1% of the cases. HPV presence was detected in 72.4% of the cases and the oncogenic risk HPV 16 was the most prevalent (55.6%). Statistical difference was observed in the correlation between HPV status and previous STD (p = 0.03).
Conclusion: Various risk factors for penile cancer were observed like absence of circumcision, no use of condom and high prevalence of HPV. The high prevalence of HPV and high-risk types suggest the need for further action to prevent the spread of HPV among the population.