Majidy, Farida (2014) The prevalence and type distribution of high-risk Human Papillomavirus in patients with breast cancer from Kingston Hospital-UK. (MSc(R) thesis), Kingston University, .

Abstract

Breast Cancer is the most prevalent type of cancer amongst women and is the second leading cause of cancer related deaths in the UK. Although there are various well established risk factors associated with Breast Cancer, over 70% of women diagnosed with breast cancer are found to have no identifiable risk factor which is why further research in discovering other risk factors is imperative. Human Papillomarvirus is known to play a significant role in cancer initiation and progression and the association of HPV with anogenital cancers, especially cervical cancer is well documented. HPV has also been suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis of Breast Cancer; however, due to many research studies discovering varying results, the relationship between HPV and Breast Cancer remains controversial. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of High-risk Human Papillomavirus types 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, and 59 in breast cancer using fresh breast tumour and non-tumour tissue samples. The DNA from 31 samples (25 breast cancer samples and 6 benign breast tumour samples) were extracted and amplified using PCR. The PCR products were then run on a 3% Gel using Gel Electrophoresis to visualize HPV DNA bands. HPV DNA was found in 56% of the Cancer samples (14/25) and in 4 out of 6 benign tumour samples. Moreover, the most prevalent type of HPV found was HPV 39 and many of the samples were found to have multiple HPV infections. The findings from this study suggest that High-Risk Human Papillomavirus types are present in Breast Cancer tissue which is supportive of the notion that High-Risk HPV could act as a causative agent for Breast Cancer; however, further research, is needed to understand whether HPV plays any role in the pathogenesis of Breast Cancer.

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