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. 2020 Mar 18;9(3):224.
doi: 10.3390/pathogens9030224.

High Human Papillomavirus DNA loads in Inflammatory Middle Ear Diseases

Nicola Malagutti  1 , John Charles Rotondo  2 , Luca Cerritelli  1 , Claudio Melchiorri  1 , Monica De Mattei  2 , Rita Selvatici  3 , Lucia Oton-Gonzalez  2 , Francesco Stomeo  1 , Manuela Mazzoli  1 , Michela Borin  1 , Beatrice Mores  1 , Andrea Ciorba  1 , Mauro Tognon  2 , Stefano Pelucchi  1 , Fernanda Martini  2
Affiliations

High Human Papillomavirus DNA loads in Inflammatory Middle Ear Diseases

Nicola Malagutti et al. Pathogens. .

Abstract

Background. Previous studies reported human papillomaviruses (HPVs) in middle ear tumors, whereas these viruses have been poorly investigated in chronic inflammatory middle ear diseases. We investigated HPVs in non-tumor middle ear diseases, including chronic otitis media (COM). Methods. COM specimens (n = 52), including chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) (n =38) and cholesteatoma (COMC) (n = 14), as well as normal middle ear (NME) specimens (n = 56) were analyzed. HPV sequences and DNA loads were analyzed by quantitative-PCR. HPV genotyping was performed by direct sequencing. Results. HPV DNA was detected in 23% (12/52) of COM and in 30.4% (17/56) of NME (p > 0.05). Specifically, HPV DNA sequences were found in 26.3% (10/38) of CSOM and in 14.3% (2/14) of COMC (p > 0.05). Interestingly, the HPV DNA load was higher in COMC (mean 7.47 copy/cell) than in CSOM (mean 1.02 copy/cell) and NME (mean 1.18 copy/cell) (P = 0.03 and P = 0.017 versus CSOM and NME, respectively). HPV16 and HPV18 were the main genotypes detected in COMC, CSOM and NME. Conclusions. These data suggest that HPV may infect the middle ear mucosa, whereas HPV-positive COMCs are associated with higher viral DNA loads as compared to NME.

Keywords: HPV; chronic otitis media; infection; inflammation; middle ear; viral DNA load; virus.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA in middle ear mucosa specimens. The presence of HPV DNA was investigated in chronic otitis media (COM) specimens (n = 52), including chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) (n = 38) and chronic otitis media with cholesteatoma (COMC) (n = 14) as well as normal middle ear (NME) specimens (n = 56). No statistically significant differences were observed within groups (p > 0.05).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mean HPV DNA load detected by qPCR analysis. The mean HPV DNA load (viral DNA copy/cell) was determined in HPV-positive COM specimens (n = 12), including CSOM (n = 10) and COMC (n = 2) as well as NME specimens (n = 17). Error bars represent standard error of mean. * p < 0.05 versus CSOM and NME.
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