HPV and p53 expression in epithelial ovarian carcinoma

Human papillomavirus is the causal factor for cervical cancer. However, the role of HPV infection in ovarian cancer is unclear. This study aimed to determine the presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) in ovarian cancer tissues along with the expression of tumor suppressor gene p53. We also investigated any possible association of HPV with p53 gene mutations in ovarian carcinoma.

Archived human ovarian cancer tissues (n = 40 cases of epithelial ovarian cancer) embedded in paraffin blocks were used. Controls were 32 non-malignant ovarian tumor tissue blocks. In situ hybridization (ISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were used to detect the presence of HPV and p53 expression, respectively.

Of the total, 37.5% (n = 15) of malignant and 28.1% (n = 9) of benign ovarian tumors were positive for HPV (OR: 1.5 CI: 0.5-4.1, p = 0.4). The difference was not statistically significant. However, p53 was detected in 72.5% (n = 29) of malignant cases compared to 37.5% (n = 12) of benign cases (OR: 4.3 CI: 1.6-11.9, p = 0.003). Furthermore, a positive correlation between HPV and p53 expressions in ovarian cancer tissue samples was detected (r = 0.47, p = 0.001).

HPV does not seem to be a major component in the development of ovarian carcinoma, nevertheless HPV positivity seems to contribute to the pathogenesis in at least some ovarian carcinoma cases by way of interaction with tumor suppressor p53.