The role of human papillomavirus infection in breast cancer

Ting Wang, Peng Chang, Ling Wang*, Qing Yao, Wen Guo, Jianghao Chen, Tristan Yan, Christopher Cao

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

58 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Breast cancer is the leading female cancer and the third most common cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Many studies have suggested a possible link between breast cancer pathogenesis and viral infection, particularly mouse mammary tumour virus, simian virus 40, Epstein-Barr virus, and human papillomavirus (HPV). A significant number of recent studies have reported that approximately 29% of human breast cancer tissues were positive for highrisk HPV subtypes, especially HPV subtypes 16, 18, or 33. In contrast, several other investigations did not detect any HPV subtypes in either breast cancer tissue or normal breast tissue from patients diagnosed with breast cancer. Given these conflicting data and the established complexity of the association between HPV with other cancers, a definitive relationship between human breast cancer and HPV infection has not been determined. Recent advances in laboratory methodologies aim to overcome the inherent challenges in detecting HPV in breast cancer tissue. There is an urgent need to obtain additional evidence in order to assess the possibility of breast cancer prevention using HPV vaccines.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)48-55
Number of pages8
JournalMedical Oncology
Volume29
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2012
Externally publishedYes

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