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Review
. 2024 Sep 28;16(19):3325.
doi: 10.3390/cancers16193325.

HPV and Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review

Telma Sequeira  1   2 , Rui Pinto  3 , Carlos Cardoso  3 , Catarina Almeida  1 , Rita Aragão  1 , Teresa Almodovar  1 , Manuel Bicho  4 , Maria Clara Bicho  2 , Cristina Bárbara  2   5
Affiliations
Review

HPV and Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review

Telma Sequeira et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

This systematic review aims to explore the diagnostic criteria, epidemiology, etiology, and prognosis of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection in lung cancer. This PRISMA-guided review searched the PubMed® and EmbaseTM databases for "lung cancer AND HPV" on 10 June 2023, filtering human subject papers. A total of 97 studies encompassing 9098 patients worldwide, revealing varied HPV infection rates in lung cancer, ranging from 0% to 69%, were analyzed. While HPV16/18 was predominant in some regions, its association with lung cancer remained inconclusive due to conflicting findings. Studies from Asia reported lower HPV infection rates compared to Western populations. Some studies suggested a limited role of HPV in lung carcinogenesis, particularly in non-smokers. However, intriguing associations were noted, including HPV's potential role in lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Discrepancies in HPV detection methods and sample sources highlight the need for further research with standardized methodologies to elucidate HPV's role in lung carcinogenesis and its clinical implications. Overall, this systematic review offers insights into HPV's role in lung cancer epidemiology and clinical characteristics. Despite inconclusive evidence, intriguing associations between HPV and lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma have emerged. Further research with standardized methodologies and larger cohorts is needed for clarity.

Keywords: HPV; adenocarcinoma; lung cancer; squamous cell carcinoma.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A PRISMA flow chart for the systematic review of the literature adapted from Page MJ et al. [16].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Possible molecular mechanisms of HPV pathogenesis of lung cancer [38,93,102,104]. Created with BioRender.com (https://www.biorender.com, accessed on 30 July 2024).
Figure 3
Figure 3
HPV transmission routes to the lungs. HPV DNA has been identified not only in human neoplastic lung cells, but also in serum, plasma, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Therefore, along with oral and airborne routes, the bloodstream itself could be one of the pathways of transmission from infected organs to the lungs [94,106,119]. The figure was created with BioRender.com (https://www.biorender.com, accessed on 26 September 2024).
Figure 4
Figure 4
A schematic representation of HPV infection and lung cancer development. The recommended methods for HPV detection are crucial for an accurate diagnosis and include the preferable use of fresh-frozen tissue samples, the PCR technique with highly specific primers for specific HPV genome regions, in situ hybridization, and the evaluation of the expression of HPV E6/E7 oncogenes by means of mRNA detection. The figure was created with BioRender.com (https://www.biorender.com, accessed on 27 September 2024).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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