HPV Infection, but Not EBV or HHV-8 Infection, Is Associated with Salivary Gland Tumours

Abstract EN

Benign and malignant salivary gland tumours are clinically heterogeneous and show different histology.

Little is known about the role of human herpes virus 8 (HHV-8), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in salivary gland neoplasms.

We investigated the presence of the three viruses in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue samples in a cohort of 200 different salivary gland tumours.

We performed EBV-LMP-1 and HHV-8 and p16 immunohistochemistry, a specific chip based hybridization assay for detection and typing of HPV and a chromogenic in situ hybridization for EBV analysis.

Only one case, a polymorphic low-grade carcinoma, showed HHV-8 expression and one lymphoepithelial carcinoma was infected by EBV.

In 17 cases (9%) moderate or strong nuclear and cytoplasmic p16 expression was detected.

The HPV type was investigated in all of these cases and additionally in 8 Warthin’s tumours.

In 19 cases HPV type 16 was detected, mostly in Warthin’s tumour, adenoid cystic carcinoma, and adenocarcinoma NOS.

We concluded that HHV-8 infection and EBV infection are not associated with salivary gland cancer, but HPV infection may play a role in these tumour entities.