title: Detection of human papillomavirus-16 e6-oncoprotein in epithelial ovarian tumors samples of iraqi patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the causal factor for cervical cancer. However, the role of HPV infection in ovarian cancer is unclear.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to determine the presence of human papillomavirus-16 (HPV-16) in ovarian tumor tissues.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a retrospective study, which included 61 Archived human ovarian tumor tissues embedded in paraffin blocks. The ovarian tumor tissues were divided into four groups. The first group was the malignant ovarian epithelial tumor group; it included 31 cases with invasive surface epithelial ovarian tumors. The second group was the borderline epithelial ovarian tumor group: it included four cases with borderline intermediate malignancy. The third group was the benign epithelial ovarian tumors group: it included 18 cases with benign epithelial ovarian tumors. The fourth group had functional ovarian cystic lesions: it included eight cases with non-neoplastic functional ovarian cysts. Sections were made from each of the paraffin embedded blocks and examined using immunohistochemistry to detect HPV 16-E6-oncoprotein in ovarian tumor tissues.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of the eight cases with functional cysts only one case (12.5%) expressed HPV. No HPV expression was seen in cases with benign and borderline tumors. Out of the 31 cases with one malignant surface epithelial ovarian tumor only three (9.67%) cases expressed HPV. There was no significant statistical difference in HPV expression among neoplastic and non-neoplastic ovarian tumors included in the present study (P= 0.476).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HPV type 16 was detected in only 9.67% of malignant epithelial tumors. It appears that HPV infection plays a relatively minor role in the pathogenesis of ovarian carcinomas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Al-Nahrain University, Baghdad, Iraq.
authors.forename: Fahem Mohsin
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Mahmood
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Al-Nahrain University, Baghdad, Iraq.
authors.forename: Haider Sabah
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Kadhim
authors.affiliation: Department Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine, Al-Nahrain University, Baghdad, Iraq.
authors.forename: Liqaa Riadh
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Mousa Al Khuzaee
keywords: Human Papillomavirus-16; Immunohistochemistry; Tumor