Abstract

ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND:
There is increasing evidence that high-risk human papilloma virus (HPV) is involved in cancers other than cervical cancer. A number of reports have identified HPV DNA in breast tissue and breast cancer specimens, suggesting that the virus could play a role in the pathogenesis of this tumor.
OBJECTIVE:
The aim was directed towards the use of In situ molecular methods to localize the virus in breast tissue. In addition, this study investigated the prevalence of high-risk HPV infections in Iraqi women with and without ductal carcinoma (DC) of the breast.
PATIENTS AND METHODS:
29 cases of ductal carcinoma and 44 controls obtained from adjacent area to benign breast. Formalin fixed, paraffin embedded specimens were used by In situ hybridization technique for detection of HPV16 subtype. Data analysis was performed by SPSS 20 software using descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests.
RESULTS:
The HPV16 were identified in 69% and 27.3% of the ductal carcinoma and control breast tissue specimens respectively. Statistically, the difference between the normal and ductal carcinoma cases were highly significant (P=0.001).
CONCLUSION:
HPV16 In situ hybridization revealed statistically significant increase in DC (69%) as compared to controls (27.3%) and most of them were localized in the nuclei in integrative form. HPV16 were detected in skin and mammary tissue in both DC an control cases. This may indicates a role of HPV16 in the pathogenesis of DC.