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Squarzanti et al. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2019;5:73 Journal of Cancer
DOI: 10.20517/2394-4722.2019.19 Metastasis and Treatment

Review Open Access

High-risk HPVs, microbiota and epithelial
carcinogenesis: state of the art and research

contribution of in vitro 3D models

Diletta Francesca Squarzanti 1,2,# , Rita Sorrentino , Barbara Azzimonti 1,2,3
2,#
1 Laboratory of applied Microbiology, Center for Translational Research on Allergic and Autoimmune Diseases, Department of
Health Sciences, Medical School, Università del Piemonte Orientale, Novara 28100, Italy.
2 Department of Health Sciences, Medical School, Università del Piemonte Orientale, Novara 28100, Italy.
3 Consorzio Interuniversitario Nazionale per la Scienza e Tecnologia dei Materiali, Firenze 50121, Italy (Local Unit of Università del
Piemonte Orientale, Novara 28100, Italy).
# Authors contributed equally.

Correspondence to: Barbara Azzimonti, Center for Translational Research on Allergic and Autoimmune Diseases, Department
of Health Sciences, Medical School, Università del Piemonte Orientale, Corso Trieste 15/A, Novara 28100, Italy.
E-mail: barbara.azzimonti@med.uniupo.it

How to cite this article: Squarzanti DF, Sorrentino R, Azzimonti B. High-risk HPVs, microbiota and epithelial carcinogenesis:
state of the art and research contribution of in vitro 3D models. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2019;5:73.
http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2394-4722.2019.19

Received: 15 Jul 2019 First Decision: 5 Sep 2019 Revised: 24 Oct 2019 Accepted: 24 Oct 2019 Published: 8 Nov 2019

Science Editor: Ciro Isidoro Copy Editor: Jing-Wen Zhang Production Editor: Tian Zhang

Abstract
Persistent high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) infection is associated with anogenital and head & neck
squamous epithelial (HNSCC) tumors, which altogether cause about 550,000 new cases every year. Several
evidences suggest that the microbiota could have a role on the inflammatory, epithelial mesenchymal transition
and tumorigenesis processes promoted by HR-HPV infection, yet the mechanisms involved remain to be clarified.
In this review we report the state of the art on this topic and on the most promising in vitro developed models
for studying the host-pathogen interactions. Using MEDLINE, several terms were searched and combined to
select the most pertinent papers. The investigation was limited to the international indexed articles published
in PubMed in the last 10 years. This review reports the latest knowledge in the field of the microbial-associated
anogenital tumors and HNSCC. In addition, we also discuss the in vitro epithelial culture systems that reproduce
the pathophysiological features of the tumoral microenvironment and the in vivo response to microbial agents,
thus representing a useful tool for analyzing at cellular and molecular levels the role played by infective agents in
tumorigenesis.

© The Author(s) 2019. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license,
and indicate if changes were made.

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