Molecular analysis of human papillomavirus in never-smokers with non-small cell lung cancer

The causes of lung cancer in never-smokers remain unclear. The potential contribution of human papillomavirus (HPV) to the carcinogenesis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been reported. In 2008, a prospective registry of never-smokers with NSCLC was established at the Kinki-Chuo Chest Medical Center, Sakai, Osaka, Japan. Never-smokers with NSCLC were consecutively enrolled onto the registry. Of these patients, 114 with large tumor specimens, the majority of which were surgical tissues, were selected. In total, 23 of the most clinically relevant HPV types were assayed using polymerase chain reaction amplification of the viral genome. Following exclusion of samples with suboptimal quality, DNA was extracted from 96 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples. These 96 cases consisted of 82 females (85.4%) and 14 males (14.6%), with a median age of 67 years (range, 29–83). Almost all cases (93.8%) were of the adenocarcinoma histological subtype. Despite confirmation of the quality and amount of DNA, HPV type 6 was detected in only one case (1.1%). Furthermore, no other samples examined were positive for any other HPV types. The results therefore suggest that HPV does not play a major role as the driving oncogenic event in never-smokers with NSCLC.