Oncogenic human papillomavirus in breast cancer: molecular prevalence in a group of Congolese patients

Anicet Luc Magloire Boumba; Dimitri Malanda Mboungou Moudiongui; Sidney Frousse Christian Ngatali; Ragive Parode Takale; Donatien Moukassa; Jean Félix Peko

doi:10.1099/acmi.0.000216

Oncogenic human papillomavirus in breast cancer: molecular prevalence in a group of Congolese patients

Access Microbiol. 2021 Mar 23;3(3):000216. doi: 10.1099/acmi.0.000216. eCollection 2021 Mar.

Authors

Anicet Luc Magloire Boumba^{1

2

3}, Dimitri Malanda Mboungou Moudiongui^{1

4}, Sidney Frousse Christian Ngatali^{1

2}, Ragive Parode Takale¹, Donatien Moukassa¹, Jean Félix Peko^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Faculté des Sciences de la Santé, Université Marien NGOUABI, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo.
² Laboratoire d'Analyses Médicales, Hôpital Général de LOANDJILI, Pointe-Noire, Republic of the Congo.
³ Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire HDL, Polyclinique Marie Madeleine GOMBES, Pointe-Noire, Republic of the Congo.
⁴ Service de laboratoire d'Anatomie et cytopathologie, Centre Hospitalier et Universitaire de Brazzaville, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo.

Abstract

Background: Since the work of Band et al. in 1990 (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87:463-467), several studies have suggested a possible link between the pathogenesis of breast cancer and viral infection. Infection with oncogenic HPV has been one of the viruses implicated in breast cancer cases worldwide.

Objective: To investigate the presence of HPV DNA in archived paraffin-embedded breast cancer cases at the University Hospital of Brazzaville and to assess the association between viral HPV infections and clinicopathological features.

Methods: A total of 40 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) biopsies were retrospectively collected and available information was recorded. HPV detection and genotyping were performed by real-time PCR by GeneXpert technology (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, USA).

Results: The mean age was 51.1±11.4 years (range 22-75 years; median was 47). Overall, HPV DNA was detected in six (15%) breast carcinoma samples. HPV-16, the most common genotype was identified in 83.7 % of all samples. HPV porting with clinicopathological features showed no significant difference (P>0.05). However, a statistically significant difference was observed between HPV infection and SBR grade (P=0.05).

Conclusion: Our study described a high prevalence of HPV-HR in breast cancer cases in the Congolese woman. Future type case-control studies are necessary to better describe the potential role of HPV in the occurrence of breast cancer in Congo.

Keywords: CHU-B; Congo; human breast cancer; human papillomavirus DNA.