HPV-positive cancers at uncommon sites: a narrative review

TL;DR

This paper reviews how HPV, known for causing genital and throat cancers, can sometimes lead to cancers in less common areas like the lungs or bladder.

Contribution

The paper provides a systematic review of HPV-positive cancers at uncommon sites, focusing on genotype distribution and causality debates.

Findings

HPV can cause cancers in non-typical sites like lungs, bladder, and breast, though with limited incidence.

The review highlights the distribution of HPV genotypes in these uncommon cancers.

There is ongoing debate about whether HPV presence in these sites is causal or incidental.

Abstract

Human papillomavirus (HPV) usually infects the anogenital and the oropharyngeal areas. HPV may lead to cancer at these sites, most notably at the uterine cervix. Less frequently, vaginal, vulvar, anal and penile cancers may also arise. HPV may be also found, sometimes, in other cancers, such as lung, breast, bladder, esophageal cancers and others, which are not typical sites for HPV-related cancers. HPV spreads easily throughout the body and it has an intrinsic carcinogenic potential, which it may operate on organs which are distant from the genital area, although with a limited incidence of disease. It has been debated whether such occurrence has a casual or causative significance. In this systematic review we summarize the evidence and the pitfalls of these uncommon HPV-positive cancers, with particular emphasis on HPV genotypes distribution.

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