© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 23
Q. Cai et al. (eds.), Infectious Agents Associated Cancers: Epidemiology
and Molecular Biology, Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology 1018,
DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-5765-6_3
Chapter 3
Human Papillomavirus-Related Cancers
Yanyun Li and Congjian Xu
Abstract Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is associated with several can-
cers such as cancer in the cervix, vagina, and vulva and oropharyngeal, anal, penile,
and cutaneous carcinomas, which is regarded as a great public health concern. The
association between HPV is the strongest with cervical cancer because almost all
such malignancies contain viral DNA, notably HPV types 16 and 18. The present
chapter summarizes recent progresses of the HPV-associated cancers regarding epi-
demiology, molecular biology, HPV testing, vaccination, and treatment of HPV-
related cancers.
Keywords Human papillomavirus • Cancer • Epidemiology • Molecular biology •
Vaccine
3.1 Introduction
Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are non-enveloped, double-stranded circular DNA
viruses and are associated with a wide spectrum of benign and malignant neoplasia.
Until now, more than 120 HPV subtypes have been identified and characterized.
HPV has an exclusively intraepithelial infectious cycle and infects both the cutane-
ous and mucosal squamous epithelia. According to oncogenic potentials epidemio-
logically, some of them are classified into “high-risk (HR)” group and “low-risk
(LR)” group.
Until now, HPV subtypes 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, 68, 69, 73,and 82 are considered high risk. They are carcinogenic viruses, causing not only
most cervical cancers in women but also a substantial proportion of other anogenital
cancers, head and neck cancers, and notably carcinoma of the oropharynx, tonsils,
and tongue in men and women [ 1 – 3 ]. Among all the high-risk genotypes of HPV,
HPV16 and HPV18 are considered to have the highest ability to cause cancer and
Y. Li • C. Xu (*)
Hospital and Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan
University, Shanghai 200032, People’s Republic of China
e-mail: [email protected]