ABSTRACT
Human papillomavirus [HPV] has been considered to be an etiological agent for anogenital cancers, such as cervical cancer and possibly a subset of cancers of the gastrointestinal tract. The aim of the study was to evaluate the presence of human papillomavirus DNA in colorectal carcinoma. The present study was carried out on 40 patients with hisopathologically confirmed primary colorectal cancer. These samples were obtained after surgical resection. Two samples were collected from each patient: one sample from the tumor site and the other one from normally appearing colorectal tissue. Detection of HPV- 16 and 18 was done using real- time PCR. HPV 16 was detected in only 1/40 [2.5%] tumor sample while all adjacent normal tissues were negative for it. HPV 18 was detected in 5/40 [2.5%] of tumor samples and in 10/40 [25%] of adjacent normal tissue. Total HPV [16/18] detection results were 6/40 [15%] in tumor tissue samples while they were detected in [10/40] 25% of normal tissue samples. None of the studied cases was infected by both HPV 16 and 18 simultaneously