No high-risk HPV detected in SCC of the oral tongue in the absolute absence of tobacco and alcohol—a case study of seven patients

Introduction In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the mobile tongue in the absence of tobacco and alcohol. The literature suggests that human papilloma virus (HPV) may be involved in the development of SCC of the head and neck, especially in non-smoking and non-drinking patients. In the oral cavity, however, the presence of the HPV genome has been reported with various percentages. This may be due to misclassification of the oropharyngeal tongue as oral cavity subsite and the use of various detection methods. Materials and methods Therefore, we evaluated the role of HPV in seven consecutive non-smoking and non-drinking patients (2003–2006) with a SCC located at the oral, mobile tongue using in situ hybridization and SPF 10 Line Blot 25 polymerase chain reaction assays. Results No HPV was detected in these specimens. To further determine whether a relationship exists between HPV and SCC in the absence of tobacco and alcohol, subsequent studies at specific locations are necessary.