Does Smoking Increase the Risk of Oral HPV?

There could be an association between cigarette smoking and an increased chance of manifesting oral human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16); the sexually transmitted infection may link to an increased risk in oralpharyngeal squamous cell cancers, according to a recent research letter.

“Tobacco use has local and systemic immunosuppressive effects; however, the specific biological mechanisms underlying our observed associations are unknown,” said the authors of the research letter.
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In the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, researchers examined nearly 7000 adults who underwent oral HPV DNA tests along with urine and serum testing for tobacco molecules necessary for metabolism. The participants were also asked to answer questions about their tobacco use habits.

The survey showed that HPV-16 was present more often among tobacco users compared to non-users or former users: 2% vs. 0.6%.  After several variables were adjusted, researchers noticed that tobacco biomarkers were independently associated with the presence of oral HPV-16.

The complete letter is published in the October issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

-Michelle Canales

Reference:

Fakhry C, Gillison ML, D’Souza G. Tobacco use and oral HPV-16 infection. JAMA. 2014 Oct [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1001/jama.2014.13183.