We appreciate the author's interest in our recently published article on penile carcinoma (PeCa).[1] Regarding the query on telomerase activity in the control group, we did not find any difference in the telomerase activity between high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV)-infected and uninfected controls. Our study findings of higher telomerase activity in PeCa cases, which is insignificant with HPV-positivity status signals, telomerase activity is unaffected by HPV infection once the carcinogenesis sets in. However, the telomerase activity in HPV-affected cancers increases with the severity of the disease.[2] This was evident in the present study as the mean telomerase activity increased with the worsening of the tumor grade.
We also agree with the authors that further studies are warranted focussing on epigenetic alterations such as histone modifications, DNA methylation, and nonencoding RNAs after stratifying to different subtypes of PeCa for a better understanding of the role of HPV in PeCa.
Footnotes
Financial support and sponsorship: Nil.
Conflicts of Interest: There are no conflicts of interest.
REFERENCES
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