Background: Human papillomavirus [HPV] has been shown to cause several cancers including cervical, anal, and oropharyngeal by interfering with the tumor suppressor protein function resulting in unregulated cell proliferation. The virus can replicate only in stratified epithelium by direct contact to the basal cell layer. For retinoblastoma, the most common primary intraocular malignancy in children, the tumor derives from immature retinal cells originating from the neuroepithelium. Controversy remains regarding the detection of HPV-DNA in retinoblastoma.

Objective: To investigate the presence of HPV genomic sequence in retinoblastoma tissues.

Materials and Methods: One hundred seventeen paraffin-embedded retinoblastoma samples between January 2000 and December 2013 were included in the study. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to identify HPV genomic sequence from the samples. We used 21 paraffin-embedded ocular tissues, which enucleated from other causes as a control group. We used the same tissue preparation and process in both groups.

Results: After removing 37 (31.6%) invalid data from 117 retinoblastoma samples, we did not identify HPV-DNA in any of 80 (68.4%) valid data samples. In control group, HPV-DNA was not found in 12 (57.1%) valid data samples. Nine (42.9%) samples were invalid.

Conclusion: Our results confirm the negative correlation between the HPV and retinoblastoma, which can be explained by the virulence mechanisms of this oncogenic virus.

Keywords: Human papillomavirus, Retinoblastoma, Oncogenic virus, Polymerase chain reaction, Health promotion and prevention