Objective: To investigate the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) and adenovirus (AdV) infections in the oncogenesis of squamous cell carcinomas of the larynx and of laryngeal dysplasia.
Study design: Cross-sectional study with planned data collection.
Setting: Department of Otorhinolaryngology G. Ferreri and Department of Experimental Medicine and Pathology-Section of Virology, Sapienza University of Rome.
Subjects and methods: Biopsy samples were taken from 68 patients with benign and malignant lesions of the larynx. All tissue samples were analyzed by means of polymerase chain reaction with two groups of primers for HPV and with a pair of primers for AdV.
Results: All cases of carcinomas and dysplasia as well as all control cases were negative for both viruses. Four of the five cases of laryngeal papillomas were positive for only HPV, confirming the role of these viral types in the origin of papillomas.
Conclusion: The absence of viral genomes in laryngeal carcinomas as in the other cases studied suggests the existence of other factors that play a more important role than viral infection in the carcinogenesis of these lesions.