The role of human papillomavirus in laryngeal carcinoma using PCR

<b>Introduction:</b> The etiology of laryngeal carcinoma is multifactorial. Smoking and alcoholism are well-known risk factors; however, recently oncogenic human papillomavirus has been suggested to promote carcinogenesis. PCR has had the most dramatic impact on molecular biology, enabling the amplification of specific regions of interest and detection of gene sequences.<b>Aim:</b> The aims are to evaluate the possible relationship between laryngeal carcinoma and human papillomavirus and its impact on the socio-demographic findings and the clinicopathological presentation.<b>Material and method:</b> Twenty-five patients with laryngeal carcinoma were included. Two biopsies were taken from every patient, the first from the main bulk of the tumor, the second from the normal surrounding mucosal tissues and considered as a control group. Virus detection was done by PCR test. The HPV screen test is an <i>in vitro</i> nucleic acid amplification test for qualitative detection of HPV type (16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 52, 53, 56, 58, 59, 66, and 70) and β-globin gene used as internal control. Samples were transferred into the thermal cycler, in which denaturation, annealing, and chain elongation occurred. Specific bands of HPV were detected using a high-resolution Cannon camera.<b>Results:</b> The average age of the patients was 60.8 years. Twenty-three patients (92%) were males. Viral DNA was detected in 8% of patients, representing genotypes (16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 52, 53, 56, 58, 59, 66, and 70). There is no statistically significant relationship between the presence of the virus and epidemiological and clinic-pathological features except for female gender distribution (P-value = 0.022).<b>Conclusions:</b> There is no significant relationship between laryngeal carcinoma and human papillomavirus, nor a significant impact on socio-demographic findings and clinicopathological presentation.