Head and neck cancer are a malignant tumours originating in the upper aerodigestive tract, including the oral cavity, larynx, pharynx and nasopharynx. The vast majority of head and neck cancers are squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) arising from the epithelial membranes of these regions. The environmental pollution, high alcohol consumption and smoking are associated with this type of cancer, and also human papilloma virus (HPV) is involved in HNSCC carcinogenesis. Many different methodologies have been developed for detection of HPV virus. This manuscript is dealing with the HPV detection in leukocyte samples of 103 patients with spinocellular carcinomas using PCR method for detection and subtypes identification. 56 positives samples were detected for HPV papillomavirus. Further, the positives samples were tested with HPV type-specific primers and 21.4% were HPV 16 type and 12.5% were HPV 18 type. 7% of these samples were positive for both HPV16 and HPV18 type.

Central European Institute of Technology Brno University of Technology Czech Republic European Union

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty of Agronomy Mendel University in Brno Czech Republic European Union

Department of Physiology Faculty of Pharmacy Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology Biomedical Research Centre University of Granada Spain