Detection of Human Papillomavirus-16 E6-Oncoprotein in Epithelial Ovarian Tumors Samples of Iraqi Patients

BACKGROUND: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the causal factor for cervical cancer. However, the role of HPV infection in ovarian cancer is unclear. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine the presence of human papillomavirus-16 (HPV-16) in ovarian tumor tissues. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective study, which included 61 Archived human ovarian tumor tissues embedded in paraffin blocks. The ovarian tumor tissues were divided into four groups. The first group was the malignant ovarian epithelial tumor group; it included 31 cases with invasive surface epithelial ovarian tumors. The second group was the borderline epithelial ovarian tumor group: it included four cases with borderline intermediate malignancy. The third group was the benign epithelial ovarian tumors group: it included 18 cases with benign epithelial ovarian tumors. The fourth group had functional ovarian cystic lesions: it included eight cases with non-neoplastic functional ovarian cysts. Sections were made from each of the paraffin embedded blocks and examined using immunohistochemistry to detect HPV 16-E6-oncoprotein in ovarian tumor tissues. RESULTS: Out of the eight cases with functional cysts only one case (12.5%) expressed HPV. No HPV expression was seen in cases with benign and borderline tumors. Out of the 31 cases with one malignant surface epithelial ovarian tumor only three (9.67%) cases expressed HPV. There was no significant statistical difference in HPV expression among neoplastic and non-neoplastic ovarian tumors included in the present study (P= 0.476). CONCLUSIONS: HPV type 16 was detected in only 9.67% of malignant epithelial tumors. It appears that HPV infection plays a relatively minor role in the pathogenesis of ovarian carcinomas.