Correlation between koilocytes and human papilloma virus in nasopharyngeal Carcinomas

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is classified as a malignant neoplasm and is endemic to the Far East Asia. Oncogenic viruses such as Epstein Barr virus (EBV) and Human papillomavirus (HPV) are known to contribute to the pathogenesis of NPC tumours, with the former being well establish to have a strong association with the cancer. Little is known about the association of HPV, as well as the correlation of cytopathic effect induced by this virus and its presence in NPC tissue samples. The aim of this study was to compare the histopathological features (Koilocytosis) with PCR method to predict the presence of HPV infection in formalin-fixed-paraffin-embedded tissue (FFPET) samples of NPCs. Seventy-two archival (72) NPC tissues samples from the year 2006 to 2012 were retrieved from Pathology Department of University of Ghana School of Biomedical and Allied Health sciences. Sections were taken for histopathological analysis and DNA extraction. Detection of koilocytes was done using light microscopy where tissue samples were regrouped into WHO type I, II and III respectively. Consensus HPV forward primer (GP-E6-3F) and two consensus reverse primers (GP-E7-5B and GP-E7-6B) were used in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis to determine the presence of HPV DNAs in the study sample. Out of the 72 archival NPC biopsies analysed, koilocytes were detected in 22 (30.6%) during microscopy and HPV DNA was detected in 14 (19.4%) during PCR analysis. Ten (10) samples out of the 22 with koilocytes were found to be HPV positive. There was a weak correlation (C= 0.436), though data analysis using Fisher’s exact probability test was statistically significant (p<0.05). There was a significant level of association between koilocytes and HPV, and thus, the presence of koilocytes in NPC tissues samples can serve as an indicator for the possible presence of HPV in NPC tissue samples.