No evidence for human papillomavirus in the etiology of colorectal polyps

While some studies have reported detection of oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) in colorectal tumors, others have not.

We examined the association between oncogenic HPV infection and colorectal polyps in a case-control study of individuals with colorectal adenomas (n = 167), hyperplastic polyps (n = 87), and polyp-free controls (n = 250). We carried out real-time PCR for HPV-16 and -18 DNA, and SPF PCR covering 43 HPV types, on lesional and normal colorectal tissue samples. Plasma antibodies for oncogenic HPV types were assessed via a bead-based multiplex Luminex assay.

HPV DNA was not found in any of the 609 successfully assayed colorectal tissue samples from adenomas, hyperplastic polyps, normal biopsies adjacent to polyps, or normal biopsies of the rectum of disease-free controls. Also, there was no association between HPV seropositivity for all oncogenic HPV types combined, for either polyp type, and for men or women. When analyses were restricted to participants without a history of polyps, among men [adenomas (n = 31), hyperplastic polyps (n = 28), and controls (n = 68)], there was an association between seropositivity and hyperplastic polyps when all oncogenic HPV types were combined (OR = 3.0; 95% CI: 1.1-7.9).

Overall, our findings do not support an etiologic relationship between HPV and colorectal adenomas or hyperplastic polyps; however, our finding suggesting an association between HPV seropositivity and hyperplastic polyps in men may warrant further investigations.

After stringent controls for contamination and three methods to assess HPV infection, we report no evidence for HPV in the etiology of colorectal neoplasia for either men or women.