Detection of Low-Risk and High-Risk Oncogenic Human Papillomavirus in Archived Tissues from ENT Tumors in Burkina Faso

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is classified into high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) and HPV (LR-HPV) according to their oncogenic potential. These viruses can be found in the cervix, vagina, vulva, anus and in the ENT sphere. HPV ENT infections can lead to benign or malignant tumors in which we could find both LR-HPV and HR-HPV genotypes. The objective of this study was to investigate the genotypes of HR-HPV and LR-HPV in archived tissue samples derived from both benign and malignant tumors of the ear, nose, and throat (ENT) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. One hundred and twenty formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded archived tissues of the ENT sphere from 26 benign tumors and 94 malignant tumors were included. The tissues were first deparaffinized with xylem. The extracted DNA was used to test for high-risk and low-risk HPV by Real-Time Multiplex PCR. HPV DNA was found in 57.7% (15/26) of benign tumors and 43.61% (41/94) of malignant tumors. The prevalence of HPV infection was 46.67% (56/120) in all tumors combined. The most common HPV genotypes found were HPV 11 (34.28%), HPV 6 (30%), HPV56 (14.28%) and HPV 33 (8.57%). There were 21.43% (12/56) cases of genotypes co-infections with 10 cases of double infection and 2 cases of triple infection. Both low-risk and high-risk HPV are found in ENT tumors with relatively high HPV prevalence.