Analysis of adenocarcinoma of the colon and rectum: detection of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA by polymerase chain reaction

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Abstract
Objective  The aim of the present work was to evaluate the presence of human papillomavirus genotypes in malignant and normal mucosa of the colon and rectum in order to determine if a relationship exists between HPV infection and colon neoplasms.Materials and methods  Thirty normal colon tissues and 54 sporadic adenocarcinomas were screened for HPV positivity using nested‐PCR. Detection of viral types 6, 11, 16, 18, 33, 34 and 51 was performed by the LIS‐SSCP (Low Ionic Strength‐Single Strand Conformational Polymorphism) procedure.Results  Significant differences in high risk HPV infection were found between normal samples and adenocarcinomas (P < 0.001). Among the cases, an inverse association between HPV infection and Dukes staging was also found (P = 0.020). Finally, there was no significant association between HPV and some classical clinicopathological features, although a gradient of infection form rectum to cecum was evident.Conclusion  The present study demonstrates that HPV may infect the glandular mucosa of the colon and suggests a possible association between HPV and colorectal cancer.