title: Detection of human papillomavirus DNA in malignant lesions from Chinese women with carcinomas of the upper genital tract.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of high-risk oncogenic human papillomaviruses (HPVs) in malignant lesions from Hong Kong Chinese women with carcinomas of the upper genital tract.
  
  
  METHODS
  The presence of high-risk HPVs in 55 cases of endometrial adenocarcinomas and 60 cases of primary epithelial ovarian cancers was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using consensus primers complementary to late 1 (L1) gene of the genital HPVs. Amplified PCR products were verified and typed by Southern blot analysis using (32)P-labeled DNA probes prepared from cloned HPV-16 and -18 plasmids. To confirm the presence of high-risk HPV types in the tumor tissues, PCR amplification using HPV type 16- and 18-specific primers for part of the E6 gene were also carried out.
  
  
  RESULTS
  While HPV-18 was not detected, HPV-16 DNA sequences were identified in 5 (9.1%) of the 55 studied endometrial carcinoma samples. Of the 5 HPV-16-positive cases, there were 4 stage I, and 1 stage II endometrial cancer. In addition, 6 (10%) of the 60 epithelial ovarian carcinomas were positive for high-risk HPVs, which included 5 cases with HPV-16 and 1 case with HPV-18. Clinical staging revealed that 5 of the 6 HPV-positive cases were stage I and the remaining case was stage III ovarian cancer. Histology of the 6 HPV-positive cases showed that there were 1 case of clear-cell adenocarcinoma, 1 case of mucinous cystadenocarcinoma, and 4 cases of mucinous tumor of borderline malignancy. No other HPV types were detected.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High-risk HPV was detected in approximately 10% of the tumor samples from women with upper genital tract carcinomas. As compared to the high positive rate of HPV infections in cervical cancer, it appears that HPV infection plays a relatively minor role in the pathogenesis of endometrial and ovarian carcinomas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Ip
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: A N Y
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.forename: P C K
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Tsang
authors.forename: H Y S
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Ngan
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000821:virology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D036022:Capsid Proteins; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000821:virology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009856:Oncogene Proteins, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000821:virology*; D027383:Papillomaviridae / Q000235:genetics*; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000821:virology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; D017931:DNA Primers; D004279:DNA, Viral; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C068651:E6 protein, Human papillomavirus type 16; C052603:E6 protein, Human papillomavirus type 18; D009856:Oncogene Proteins, Viral; D012097:Repressor Proteins; C063317:L1 protein, Human papillomavirus type 16