Human Papilloma Virus 18 Detection in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Potentially Malignant Lesions Using Saliva Samples

Background: Oral cancer has become one of the most prevalent cancers worldwide and human Papillomavirusis one of the risk factors for developing oral cancer. For this study HPV18 was chosen as it is one of the high riskHPV types and may lead to carcinogenesis. However, prevalence of HPV18 infection in Oral Squamous CellCarcinoma in Malaysia remains unclear.
Objective: This study aimed to investigate the viral load of HPV18DNA in OSCC and potentially malignant lesions using saliva samples. Materials and
Methods: Genomic DNAsof thirty saliva samples of normal subjects and thirty saliva samples compromised of 16 samples from potentiallymalignant lesions and 14 of OSCC patients were amplified for HPV18 DNA using a nested polymerase chainreaction analysis. All PCR products were then analyzed using the Bioanalyzer to confirm presence of HPV18DNA.
Result: From thirty patients examined, only one of 30 (3.3%) cases was found to be positive for HPV18in this study.
Conclusion: The finding of this study revealed that there is a low viral detection of HPV18 inMalaysian OSCC by using saliva samples, suggesting that prevalence of HPV18 may not be important in thisgroup of Malaysian OSCC.