High-risk human papillomavirus infections in colorectal cancer in the Syrian population and their association with Fascin, Id-1 and P-cadherin expressions: A tissue microarray study

Background: High-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) can be regarded as important risk factors for colorectal carcinogenesis and metastasis. Alternatively, earlier studies have reported that Fascin, Id-1 and P-cadherin genes are important regulators of cell invasion and metastasis in several human carcinomas, including colorectal. In order to investigate the correlation between the presence of high-risk HPVs and Fascin, Id-1, and P-cadherin genes in human colorectal cancer (CRC) in the Syrian population, we examined the incidence of high-risk HPV types (16, 18, 31, 33 and 35) and their association with Fascin, Id-1 and P-cadherin expression. Materials and Methods: A total of 78 blocks from CRC Syrian patients were used in this study. These blocks were analyzed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and tissue microarray (TMA) analyses for the presence of high-risk HPVs and Fascin, Id-1 as well as P-cadherin expression, respectively. Results: We found that high-risk HPVs were present in 42 samples (53.84%), which represent the majority of invasive CRC cases; the most frequent high-risk HPV types in the Syrian population are 16, 33, 18, 35 and 31 respectively. Furthermore, the expression of E6 onco-protein of high-risk HPVs was found to be correlated with Fascin, Id-1 and P-cadherin expression/over-expression in the majority of CRC tissue samples. Conclusion : These data reveal that high-risk HPVs are present in human CRCs in the Syrian population, and their presence is associated with invasive and metastatic phenotype.