Studying the Association Between Human Papillomavirus and Prostate Cancer by Immunohistochemistry and PCR Techniques in Ahvaz Hospitals

High risk genotypes of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) induce proliferative changes in prostate epithelium that result prostate cancer. The aim of this study was to detect the association of HPV infection with prostate cancer using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques in Ahvaz hospitals.

In this cross-sectional study, 50 paraffin embedded and formalin fixed prostate tissues were collected from the archive of pathology laboratories, Ahvaz Hospitals in 2019. A total of 25 tissues with prostate cancer and 25 tissues with benign prostatic hyperplasia (controls) were selected. HPV detection was performed by IHC and PCR methods.

HPV E7 oncoprotein was positively expressed in 4/25 (16%) prostate cancer specimens by IHC. HPV L1 gene was identified in 4/25 (16%) prostate cancer samples by PCR. Also, HPV16 E7 gene was detected in the same cancer specimens. Correlation between HPV infection and prostate cancer was significant (P = 0.03).

According to these results, HPV16 infection plays an important role in prostate cancer development in Ahvaz hospitals. Furthermore, IHC method can be used for the detection of HPV oncoproteins in prostate cancer patients and this technique is as an alternative method for PCR.