Human papilloma virus in the etiopathogenesis of allergic nasal polyposis: A prospective study

To evaluate and compare the prevalence of high-risk HPV and low-risk HPV types in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis (CRSwNP) and healthy controls.

A prospective cohort study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital on the patients of CRSwNP undergoing surgical management. All patients underwent preoperative endoscopic evaluation and radiological assessment using NCCT of the nose and paranasal sinuses. The severity of the disease was graded using the Lund-Mackay score on NCCT. All patients underwent endoscopic polypectomy and the sample of tissues was sent for HPV DNA detection using Hybrid Capture II® technique. The clinicopathological characteristics of HPV positive and negative patients were compared.

Sixty cases and 20 controls were included in the study. All controls were negative for HPV DNA. 27 patients (45%) had the presence of HPV DNA, out of which 23 had only LR-HPV and 1 had only HR-HPV types. Three patients had both HR-HPV and LR-HPV subtypes. There was a significant difference between the cases and controls for the presence of HPV DNA (p < 0.001). However, the patients with HPV-positive DNA in the nasal specimen did not differ significantly from HPV-negative patients in age, gender, or severity of the disease.

Human papillomaviruses may play a significant role in the etiopathogenesis of CRSwNP, however, do not impact the degree of sinus involvement.