Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of Clinical Pathology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Pathology
. 1994 Sep;47(9):823–826. doi: 10.1136/jcp.47.9.823

Prevalence of human papillomavirus types 16 and 18 in penile carcinoma: a study of 41 cases using PCR.

K W Chan 1, K Y Lam 1, A C Chan 1, P Lau 1, G Srivastava 1
PMCID: PMC494939  PMID: 7962651

Abstract

AIMS--To determine retrospectively the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18 in penile carcinomas. METHODS--Forty one surgically resected penile carcinomas from the archives at Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, were reviewed and classified into verrucous carcinoma, and well, moderately, and poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinomas. Paraffin wax embedded tumour tissue was sectioned and analysed for HPV 16 and HPV 18 using the polymerase chain reaction with type specific internal probes. RESULTS--There were seven verrucous carcinomas, and 11 well, 17 moderately, and six poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinomas. Six of the 41 (15%) patients had penile carcinoma containing HPV 16 or HPV 18 DNA, or both, with HPV 16 found in four (10%) and HPV 18 in four (10%). The mean ages of HPV positive and HPV negative groups of patients were 68.5 and 57.6 years, respectively (p < 0.05). None of the seven verrucous and 11 well differentiated squamous cell carcinomas was positive for HPV. The mean age of patients who had these carcinomas was 52.4 years. As a group, these low grade carcinomas occurred in patients younger by more than a decade than those who had carcinomas of the higher grades (mean age 64.4 years; p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS--Penile carcinomas had much lower rates of infection by HPV 16 or HPV 18 than cervical carcinomas in this Hong Kong population. Based on our findings and on data collated from published findings, it is concluded that penile verrucous carcinomas are not associated with HPV 16 and HPV 18. The overall low prevalence of HPV 16 and HPV 18 in penile carcinomas suggests that other HPV types might be important in the pathogenesis of these tumours.

Full text

PDF
823

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Higgins G. D., Uzelin D. M., Phillips G. E., Villa L. L., Burrell C. J. Differing prevalence of human papillomavirus RNA in penile dysplasias and carcinomas may reflect differing etiologies. Am J Clin Pathol. 1992 Feb;97(2):272–278. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/97.2.272. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Ip E. W., Collins R. J., Srivastava G., Cheung A. N., Wong L. C. Human papillomavirus and its prognostic significance in invasive carcinoma of the cervix in young patients. Int J Gynecol Pathol. 1992 Oct;11(4):258–265. doi: 10.1097/00004347-199210000-00003. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Kiyabu M. T., Shibata D., Arnheim N., Martin W. J., Fitzgibbons P. L. Detection of human papillomavirus in formalin-fixed, invasive squamous carcinomas using the polymerase chain reaction. Am J Surg Pathol. 1989 Mar;13(3):221–224. doi: 10.1097/00000478-198903000-00007. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Masih A. S., Stoler M. H., Farrow G. M., Wooldridge T. N., Johansson S. L. Penile verrucous carcinoma: a clinicopathologic, human papillomavirus typing and flow cytometric analysis. Mod Pathol. 1992 Jan;5(1):48–55. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. McCance D. J. Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections in the aetiology of cervical cancer. Cancer Surv. 1988;7(3):499–506. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. McCance D. J., Kalache A., Ashdown K., Andrade L., Menezes F., Smith P., Doll R. Human papillomavirus types 16 and 18 in carcinomas of the penis from Brazil. Int J Cancer. 1986 Jan 15;37(1):55–59. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910370110. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Saiki R. K., Scharf S., Faloona F., Mullis K. B., Horn G. T., Erlich H. A., Arnheim N. Enzymatic amplification of beta-globin genomic sequences and restriction site analysis for diagnosis of sickle cell anemia. Science. 1985 Dec 20;230(4732):1350–1354. doi: 10.1126/science.2999980. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Tidy J. A., Vousden K. H., Farrell P. J. Relation between infection with a subtype of HPV16 and cervical neoplasia. Lancet. 1989 Jun 3;1(8649):1225–1227. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(89)92329-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Varma V. A., Sanchez-Lanier M., Unger E. R., Clark C., Tickman R., Hewan-Lowe K., Chenggis M. L., Swan D. C. Association of human papillomavirus with penile carcinoma: a study using polymerase chain reaction and in situ hybridization. Hum Pathol. 1991 Sep;22(9):908–913. doi: 10.1016/0046-8177(91)90181-n. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Villa L. L., Lopes A. Human papillomavirus DNA sequences in penile carcinomas in Brazil. Int J Cancer. 1986 Jun 15;37(6):853–855. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910370610. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Wiener J. S., Effert P. J., Humphrey P. A., Yu L., Liu E. T., Walther P. J. Prevalence of human papillomavirus types 16 and 18 in squamous-cell carcinoma of the penis: a retrospective analysis of primary and metastatic lesions by differential polymerase chain reaction. Int J Cancer. 1992 Mar 12;50(5):694–701. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910500505. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Young L. S., Bevan I. S., Johnson M. A., Blomfield P. I., Bromidge T., Maitland N. J., Woodman C. B. The polymerase chain reaction: a new epidemiological tool for investigating cervical human papillomavirus infection. BMJ. 1989 Jan 7;298(6665):14–18. doi: 10.1136/bmj.298.6665.14. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. de Villiers E. M. Heterogeneity of the human papillomavirus group. J Virol. 1989 Nov;63(11):4898–4903. doi: 10.1128/jvi.63.11.4898-4903.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Pathology are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES