Investigation into the infectivity levels of HPV in tonsillar tissue
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigation into the infectivity levels of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) in tonsillar tissue.
IRAS ID
194857
Contact name
Elizabeth Marsh
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Derby
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) has been shown to be a cause of Head & Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC) and the majority of current studies focus on what is happening in patients with a HPV HNSCC. But there is limited investigation into HPV infection in the oropharynx of patients who do not have HNSCC. The current incidence of oral HPV infection is not known in the general population locally and there is also limited information on what particular localities within the mouth that patients’ harbour HPV infection what strains are present and if there are any differences in viral load.
Therefore the aim of this project is to investigate within patients that undergo tonsillectomies the rate of HPV infection in tonsils to determine the amount of HPV present within the community.
This will be achieved through the following objectives:
• Validation of a reproducible oral HPV screening method to detect HPV from saliva samples and also tonsillar tissue to investigate rates of oral HPV infection.
• Quantification and typing of detectable HPV infection from saliva and tonsillar samples to investigate any differences between samples from the same patient and also different patients.
• Examination to quantify the abundance of viral infection, from infected tissue to investigate differences in viral protein expression between different patients.
• To investigate if there are any correlations between a person life style choices and their HPV infectivity status.REC name
South West - Cornwall & Plymouth Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/SW/0079
Date of REC Opinion
14 Jun 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion