Contribution of Human papillomavirus in neuroendocrine tumors from a series of 10,575 invasive cervical cancer cases

AIMS: Neuroendocrine tumors (NET) of the cervix are rare tumors with a very aggressive course. The human papillomavirus (HPV) has been linked to its etiology. The objective of this study is to describe HPV prevalence and genotype distribution of NET. METHODS AND RESULTS: overexpression was observed in 38/44 cases (86.4%). Neuroendocrine IHC markers could be demonstrated in 24/37 (64.9%) cases. EM identified neuroendocrine granules in 8 samples with negative IHC markers. CONCLUSIONS: overexpression. Specifically, HPV16 and 18 accounted together for over 95% of the HPV positive cases. Current HPV vaccines could largely prevent these aggressive tumors.