The Impact of Human Papillomavirus on Cancer Risk in Penile Cancer

Abstract

The HPV has been shown to play a causative role in anal, head, neck, oral and penile carcinomas. The latter is a rare tumor accounting of a 1 per 100.000 incidence rate in Western countries, including Europe and North America, and representing less than 1% of all male cancers. On the contrary, the incidence in some emerging countries is much higher, reaching 18% to 20% of all male tumors (Salvioni et al., 2009). General socioeconomic factors and access to health-care systems might contribute to the discrepancies in this incidence.