Prevalence of Human Papillomavirus 16 in Esophageal Cancer Among the Chinese Population: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background and Aim: No firm evidence of HPV infection in esophageal cancer has been established to date.The aim of this meta-analysis was to investigate the prevalence of HPV 16 in esophageal cancer in China, whichhad a high burden of the disease. Materials and
Methods: Studies on HPV infection and esophageal cancerwere identified and a random-effects model was used to pool the summary prevalence and corresponding 95%confidence intervals (CIs).
Results: A total of 3,429 esophageal cancer cases were evaluated from 26 eligiblestudies in this meta-analysis. The summary estimate for HPV16 prevalence was 0.381 (95% CI: 0.283, 0.479).The prevalence varied by geographical areas of the study, publication year, HPV detection method and types ofspecimen. In sensitivity analysis, HPV 16 prevalence ranged from 0.368 (95% CI: 0.276, 0.460) to 0.397 (95%CI: 0.286, 0.508).
Conclusions: The results indicate a relatively high level of HPV 16 prevalence in esophagealcancer among Chinese population, although there was variation between different variables. Further studiesare needed to elucidate the role of HPV in esophageal carcinogenesis with careful consideration of study designand laboratory detection method, providing more accurate assessment of the HPV status in esophageal cancer.