The Integration Pattern of Human Papillomavirus in the Host Genome as a Promising Guide for Precise Radiation Therapy in Cervical Cancer

Abstract

Context: Cervical cancer (CC) is one of the most common cancers among women worldwide. Infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) is the leading risk factor for this cancer. Currently, concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy are the standard of care for patients with locally advanced CC. However, the response to radiotherapy varies widely among patients, underscoring the need to identify biomarkers to predict patients’ treatment outcomes. Evidence Acquisition: In order to find relevant articles, we performed a systematic search using ISI Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and Embase, with a combination of the keywords “human papillomaviruses”, “cervical cancer”, “radiotherapy”, “biomarkers”, “viral integration”, and “episome”. All types of studies, including observational or retrospective studies, clinical trials, congress abstracts, and case reports or case series, were examined to find relevant data. No time limitation was considered for the studies. Results: The integration of HPV DNA into the host genome is considered to be a critical step in HPV carcinogenesis. The HPV integration pattern has been investigated as a potent prognostic factor for the tailored treatment of CC. Conclusions: It is indicated that the integration state of the HPV genome in host DNA is a potential prognostic or predictive biomarker for CC response to radiotherapy.