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(American Journal of Pathology. 2003;163:2185-2189.)
© 2003 American Society for Investigative Pathology

Short Communication

Absence of Human Papillomavirus in Tonsillar Squamous Cell Carcinomas from Chinese Patients

Wei Li*{dagger}{ddagger}, Carol H. Thompson{dagger}, Ding Xin{ddagger}, Yvonne E. Cossart{dagger}, Christopher J. O’Brien*, Edward B. McNeil*, Kan Gao*, Richard A. Scolyer§ and Barbara R. Rose*{dagger}

From the Sydney Head and Neck Cancer Institute,* Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, Australia; the Department of Infectious Diseases,{dagger} University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia; the Department of Otorhinolaryngology,{ddagger} the Second Teaching Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China; and the Department of Anatomical Pathology,§ Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Epidemiological and experimental evidence from Western countries now consistently support an etiological role for human papillomavirus (HPV) in a subset of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (SCC), especially those originating in the tonsil. The role of HPV in the etiology of tonsil cancer in developing countries such as China has not been investigated. In this study, none of 16 tonsil cancer specimens from Chinese patients were positive for HPV DNA, whereas those from Australian patients using the same methodology gave a positivity rate of 46%. The tumors from Chinese patients, like the Australian HPV-negative subset, significantly overexpressed pRb and cyclin D1 and underexpressed p16INK4A (p16). In contrast, the Australian HPV-positive cancers overexpressed p16 and had reduced expression of pRb and cyclin D1. These findings may help explain why China has a relatively low rate of oropharyngeal cancer compared with Australia. They also support the hypothesis that molecular pathways to tonsil cancer mediated by HPV are distinct from those induced by mutagens present in cigarette smoke or alcohol.






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Copyright © 2003 by the American Society for Investigative Pathology.