Human Papillomaviruses and Malignant Neoplasms of the Female Upper Reproductive Tract - A Comprehensive Review of the Literature

Sep 23, 2026

Uploaded by Ivy

Malignancies of the female upper reproductive tract, particularly endometrial and ovarian cancers, create a substantial global health burden. The etiopathogenetic contribution of chronic human papillomavirus (HPV) infection remains incompletely established. This comprehensive literature review assessed HPV DNA prevalence in endometrial cancer, primary fallopian tube cancer, ovarian malignant neoplasms, uterine sarcomas, and primary peritoneal cancers across 35 studies, identifying an overall HPV prevalence of about 15% and a dominant HPV-16 strain.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Role of HPV in Female Reproductive Tract Carcinogenesis

Evidence from Cervical Cancer Studies

Review Objectives and Study Scope

Literature Search Strategy

HPV Prevalence Across Tumor Types

Endometrial Carcinoma and Uterine Sarcoma

Review Human Papillomaviruses and Malignant Neoplasms of the Female Upper Reproductive Tract: A Comprehensive Review of the Literature Charalampos Karachalios 1, *,†, Ilias Liapis 2,†, Stamatios Petousis 1, Emmanouela-Aliki Almperi 1, Chrysoula Margioula-Siarkou 1, Georgia Margioula-Siarkou 1, Stefanos Flindris 1, Evangelos Karamitrousis 3 and Konstantinos Dinas 1 Academic Editor: W. Martin Kast Received: 8 May 2025 Revised: 9 June 2025 Accepted: 12 June 2025 Published: 15 June 2025 Citation: Karachalios, C.; Liapis, I.; Petousis, S.; Almperi, E.-A.; Margioula-Siarkou, C.; Margioula-Siarkou, G.; Flindris, S.; Karamitrousis, E.; Dinas, K. Human Papillomaviruses and Malignant Neoplasms of the Female Upper Reproductive Tract: A Comprehensive Review of the Literature. Cancers 2025, 17, 1995. [https://doi.org/10.3390/](https://doi.org/10.3390/)[ ](https://doi.org/10.3390/)cancers17121995 Copyright: © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ([https://creativecommons.org/](https://creativecommons.org/)[ ](https://creativecommons.org/)[licenses/by/4.0/](licenses/by/4.0/)) . 1 Gynecologic Oncology Unit, Second Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece; [petousisstamatios@gmail.com](petousisstamatios@gmail.com) (S.P.); [alemma300@gmail.com](alemma300@gmail.com) (E.-A.A.); [margioulasiarkouc@gmail.com](margioulasiarkouc@gmail.com) (C.M.-S.); [gmargioulasiarkou@gmail.com](gmargioulasiarkou@gmail.com) (G.M.-S.); [stefflindris@gmail.com](stefflindris@gmail.com) (S.F.); [konstantinosdinas@hotmail.com](konstantinosdinas@hotmail.com) (K.D.) 2 Birmingham Women’s Hospital, Birmingham B15 2TG, West Midlands, UK; [liapisilias7@hotmail.com](liapisilias7@hotmail.com) 3 International Oncology Center, Interbalkan Medical Center, 55535 Thessaloniki, Greece; [vkaramitrousis@gmail.com](vkaramitrousis@gmail.com) * [Correspondence: harrykarachalios@windowslive.com](Correspondence: harrykarachalios@windowslive.com); Tel.: +30-69-7998-1784 † These authors contributed equally to this work. Simple Summary: Chronic human papillomavirus (HPV) infection has not been clearly established as the protagonist of upper female genital tract carcinogenesis. The principal aim of this comprehensive review is to determine the prevalence of HPV DNA isolated from malignant tumors of the uterus (excluding the cervix), oviducts, ovaries, and peritoneum. HPV DNA has been detected in endometrial and ovarian cancers. Consequently, HPV vaccination might prove to be a useful weapon in the armament against gynecological malignancies occurring in anatomical sites above the cervix uteri. Abstract: Malignancies of the female upper reproductive tract, especially endometrial and ovarian cancers, generate a significant burden for women worldwide. The possible etiopathogenetic role of chronic human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in the carcinogenesis of the female upper genital tract is neither clearly established not completely understood. Therefore, we performed a literature review, using the PubMed and SCOPUS electronic databases, of the prevalence of HPV DNA in endometrial, primary fallopian tube, ovarian, and primary peritoneal cancers, as well as uterine sarcomas. The present investigation covered 35 studies from different countries on various continents. Overall, the prevalence of HPV was approximately 15% in all the above cancers. HPV DNA was isolated from 11%, 0%, 0%, and 14% of endometrial carcinomas, uterine sarcomas, primary fallopian tube cancers, and ovarian malignant neoplasms, respectively. No relevant studies on primary peritoneal cancers were retrieved. The predominant HPV strain from tumors of the upper female reproductive tract, regardless of the tumor site, was HPV-16, followed by HPV-18 . The HPV DNA identified was excl

FAQs

What was the main objective of the review?

To determine the prevalence of HPV DNA isolated from malignant tumors of the female upper reproductive tract above the cervix.

Which databases were used to conduct the literature review?

PubMed and SCOPUS were used to collect studies on HPV DNA prevalence.

What HPV strains were most commonly identified in these tumors?

HPV-16 was the predominant strain, followed by HPV-18.

Sep 23, 2026

Uploaded by Ivy