Association of human papilloma virus (HPV) infection with oncological outcomes in urothelial bladder cancer

BACKGROUND: Bladder cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death in adults worldwide. There are various risk factors described for the bladder cancer development including genetic background as well as environmental exposure. Currently, infectious agents such as human papilloma virus (HPV) has also been linked to bladder cancer risk. The current study aimed to evaluate the potential correlation between HPV infection and the oncological outcome in urothelial bladder cancer. METHODS: Totally 106 tissue samples of histopathologically confirmed transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the urinary bladder were included in this study. The presence of high risk (types 16 and 18) and low risk (types 11 and 6) types of HPV was evaluated using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by in situ hybridization. RESULTS: Out of 106 bladder cancer patients, a total of 24 cases (22.6%) were positive HPV infection. The most common type of HPV detected was type 16 followed by types 11 and 18, and 6. According to independent T-test results, there was a significant association between mean age and HPV infection (P = 0.015). Moreover, our findings showed a significant relation between infection with HPV and tumor stage, tumor grade, muscle invasion of the tumor, as well as tumor recurrence. The results of Chi-square Test indicated that there is significant statistical association between types of HPV and tumor grade (P-Value = 0.044). CONCLUSION: Our findings indicated that a family history of cancer and HPV infection can be potential independent predictive factors for tumor recurrence in bladder cancer. Overall, the results of this study strongly indicate a significant relationship between HPV infection and an aggravated outcome of the disease and a higher risk of recurrence in patients with bladder cancer.