Tumor tissue Helicobacter pylori and human papillomavirus infection in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients and association with clinicopathological indices: A cross‑sectional medical survey

Abstract

Background: The associations between Helicobacter pylori and human papillomavirus (HPV) with
head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) are approved before. However, the association
between demographic, clinicopathological, and histologic characteristics of HNSCC patients and
molecular detection of HPV and H. pylori has not been enough investigated.
Materials and Methods: In this cross‑sectional study, 62 patients with HNSCC from January 2016
to February 2020 were entered the study. For H. pylori detection 16S ribosomal RNA and glmM genes
and HPV detection, MY09 and MY11 genes were used. P < 0.05 is considered as significant level.
Results: There were 34 patients with advanced‑stage cancer (54.8%). Grade I patients (61.3%)
had the highest frequency. There were 20 (32.25%) and 7 (11.29%) patients with positive H. pylori
infection among tumor tissue and healthy tissue margins, respectively. Positive HPV infections were in
8 (12.90%) and 3 (4.83%) patients, respectively, in tumor tissue and healthy tissue margins (P = 0.01).
There was a significant difference between histological grade and infection to HPV among HNSCC
patients (P = 0.01), and most of the positive HPV cases had well‑, moderate‑, and poorly‑differentiated
tumors, respectively. Our study showed a significant increase in HPV infection in the advanced‑stage
group compared to the early‑stage group (P = 0.05).
Conclusion: Our study findings concluded a significant relationship between HPV infection in
HNSCC patients with age, stage, and grade. In summary, our findings based on polymerase chain
reaction analysis concluded remarkably a potential role of HPV infection and to some extent
H. pylori infection into the contribution of HNSCC malignancies.
Key Words: Grade, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, Helicobacter pylori, human
papillomavirus, stage