RESUMO
The incidence of human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancers, especially those from the head and neck region, has increased. The relatively early age of presentation of HPV-positive head and neck cancer (HNC) indicates that viral infection might be acquired early in life. Persistent HPV infection has been recognized as the main risk factor for cancer development, but most studies have focused on evaluating HPV persistence in the genital region. Thus, in this work, we aimed to evaluate the prevalence of HPV in oral cavity and oropharynx in a young population, as well as the possible persistence of the infection after 12 months. Our results indicate that almost half (46.8%) of the analyzed population harbors an HPV infection either in the oral cavity or in the oropharynx. Furthermore, after 1 year of initial identification, half of them eliminated the infection, and only one person (5.26%) exhibited persistence. Interestingly, 50% of the individuals who successfully eliminated the infection acquired a new viral type, indicating that even when the primary infection is effectively eliminated by the immune system, there is a dynamic circulation of HR-HPV types that produce reinfection. This dynamic HPV infection among young individuals could influence the future establishment of cancer in some proportion of the cases.
Assuntos
Alphapapillomavirus , Doenças da Boca , Orofaringe , Infecções por Papillomavirus , Adolescente , Adulto , Alphapapillomavirus/genética , Feminino , Neoplasias de Cabeça e Pescoço/etiologia , Humanos , Masculino , México/epidemiologia , Boca/virologia , Doenças da Boca/epidemiologia , Doenças da Boca/virologia , Orofaringe/virologia , Infecções por Papillomavirus/complicações , Infecções por Papillomavirus/epidemiologia , Infecções por Papillomavirus/virologia , Prevalência , Adulto JovemRESUMO
The manipulation of autophagy for cancer therapy has gained recent interest in clinical settings. Although inhibition of autophagy is currently being used in clinical trials for the treatment of several malignancies, autophagy has been shown to have diverse implications for normal cell homeostasis, cancer cell survival, and signaling to cells in the tumor microenvironment. Among these implications and of relevance for cancer therapy, the autophagic process is known to be involved in the regulation of protein secretion, in tumor cell immunogenicity, and in the regulation of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a critical step in the process of cancer cell invasion. In this work, we have reviewed recent evidence linking autophagy to the regulation of EMT in cancer and normal epithelial cells, and have discussed important implications for the manipulation of autophagy during cancer therapy.