• Investigation of Frequency of Human Papillomavirus Infection and it's genotypes among Patients with Lung Cancer in Bushehr Province, 2011-2018
  • Reza Taherkhani,1 Fatemeh Farshadpour,2,*
    1. Department of Virology, School of Medicine, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences
    2. Department of Virology, School of Medicine, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences


  • Introduction: Lung cancer is very important in terms of the incidence and mortality rate of cancer around the world and is more prevalent among men than women. The disease is usually diagnosed in advanced stages, which reduces the survival rate. The role of oncoviruses such as human papillomaviruses in contaminating lung, which can occur as a result of diffusion through airways or through blood or lymph, is mentioned as a potential risk factor for lung cancer. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and genotype distribution of human papillomavirus in paraffin-embedded tissue specimens from patients with lung cancer in an 8-year period in Bushehr province using nested-PCR technique.
  • Methods: This study is a descriptive cross-sectional study. The study population includes paraffin-embedded lung specimens of patients with lung cancer and non-cancerous lung tissue biopsy referred to the Shohadaie Khalij-Fars Hospital in Bushehr during 2010 to 2018. Of 75 patients with lung cancer, cancerous paraffin-embedded tissue specimens from 63 patients and 56 non-cancerous paraffin-embedded tissue samples (Inflammatory tissue, fibrotic, granulomatous, neodular and hemorrhagic specimens) as control group were investigated for nested PCR method. Data were analyzed using SPSS software, Chi-square and Fisher's statistical tests.
  • Results: The mean age of 75 patients with lung cancer was 68.05 ± 13.58 years with age range from 31 to 93 years. Most of the patients with lung cancer were between the ages of 60-79 years. Most cases of lung cancer in Bushehr city were from 2015 and 2016. The most common type of lung cancer was squamous cell carcinoma (60%). The overall prevalence of HPV infection was negative in 63 cases of lung cancer. In the control group, among 56 non-cancerous lung tissue samples, HPV infection was observed in only one case of 74-year-old female sclerotic lesion, and the overall prevalence of HPV in the control group was 1.8%.
  • Conclusion: The overall prevalence of HPV infection was negative in lung carcinoma specimens, and in the control group (non-cancerous), only one case of HPV (low risk) was positive. In addition, there was no significant statistically relationship between age, sex, city, year and type of cancer and non-cancerous lung lesions with the prevalence of HPV infection (p value> 0.05). Therefore, the role of other risk factors for lung cancer such as age, smoking, diet, genetic factors and environmental factors may be more important than the role of human papillomavirus in the development of lung cancer.
  • Keywords: Human papillomaviruses, Lung carcinoma, Bushehr province, Nested-PCR