title: Detection of human papillomavirus in Chinese esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and its adjacent normal epithelium.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the putative role of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in the carcinogenesis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in China.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-three esophageal squamous cell carcinoma samples and the distal normal epithelium from Shanxi Province, and 25 more esophageal squamous cell carcinoma samples from Anyang city, two areas with a high incidence of esophageal cancer in China, were detected for the existence of HPV-16 DNA by PCR, mRNA in situ hybridization (ISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) targeting HPV-16 E6 gene.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were approximately 64 % (31/48) patients having HPV-16 DNA in tumor samples, among them nearly two-thirds (19/31) samples were detected with mRNA expression of HPV-16 E6. However, in the normal esophageal epithelium from cancer patients, the DNA and mRNA of HPV-16 were found with much less rate: 34.7 % (8/23) and 26.1 % (6/23) respectively. In addition, at protein level detected by IHC assay, 27.1 % (13/48) tumor samples had virus oncoprotein E6 expression, while only one case of normal epithelium was found positive.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HPV infection, especially type 16, should be considered as a risk factor for esophageal malignancies in China.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cell and Molecular Biology, Cancer Institute and Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100021, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Bo
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Lan-Ping
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Quan
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhe-Ming
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Quan-Hong
authors.initials: QH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ke
authors.forename: Ning-Zhi
authors.initials: NZ
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D044466:Asian People; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics*; D004848:Epithelium / Q000821:virology; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000821:virology*; D004947:Esophagus / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D027383:Papillomaviridae / Q000302:isolation & purification*