Evaluation of the role of human papillomavirus in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma in Belgium

Objective : To evaluate the putative role of human papiromavirus (HPV) in the aetiology of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) in Belgium. Methods: The frequency of HPV infection was determined using HPV DNA PCRamplification with LI consensus primers MY09-MYII, able to recognise about 40 different HPV types, on twenty-one formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded oesophageal squamous cells carcinomas. Nineteen samples of histologically normal epithelium from the surgical margins of the OSCC specimens and rive samples from normal oesophagus obtained at autopsy served as negative controls. Results : We found only one HPV positive tumour (4,8 %) out of the 21 OSCC cases. All the normal epithelium controls remained negative. Conclusions : Our data are in agreement with those previously published, suggesting that HPV infection only plays a minor role in the pathogenesis of oesophageal squamous cells carcinoma in West-European countries.