Research Article HPV Infection, but Not EBV or HHV-8 Infection, Is Associated with Salivary Gland Tumours Maja Hühns, 1 Georg Simm, 1 Andreas Erbersdobler, 1 and Annette Zimpfer 1,2 1 Institute of Pathology, University of Rostock, Strempelstrasse 14, 18055 Rostock, Germany 2 Institute of Pathology, University Medical Centre Jena, Ziegelm¨ uhlenweg 1, 07743 Jena, Germany Correspondence should be addressed to Maja H¨ uhns; maja.huehns@med.uni-rostock.de Received 1 July 2015; Accepted 21 October 2015 Academic Editor: Monica Cantile Copyright © 2015 Maja H¨ uhns et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Benign and malignant salivary gland tumours are clinically heterogeneous and show diferent histology. Little is known about the role of human herpes virus 8 (HHV-8), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in salivary gland neoplasms. We investigated the presence of the three viruses in formalin-fxed, parafn-embedded tissue samples in a cohort of 200 diferent salivary gland tumours. We performed EBV-LMP-1 and HHV-8 and p16 immunohistochemistry, a specifc chip based hybridization assay for detection and typing of HPV and a chromogenic in situ hybridization for EBV analysis. Only one case, a polymorphic low-grade carcinoma, showed HHV-8 expression and one lymphoepithelial carcinoma was infected by EBV. In 17 cases (9%) moderate or strong nuclear and cytoplasmic p16 expression was detected. Te HPV type was investigated in all of these cases and additionally in 8 Warthin’s tumours. In 19 cases HPV type 16 was detected, mostly in Warthin’s tumour, adenoid cystic carcinoma, and adenocarcinoma NOS. We concluded that HHV-8 infection and EBV infection are not associated with salivary gland cancer, but HPV infection may play a role in these tumour entities. 1. Introduction Benign and malignant salivary gland tumours belong to rare head and neck tumours. Most cases are benign and only 20% are malignant [1]. Te majority of the diseases arise in the sixth decade and the sex distribution is equal [2]. Salivary gland tumours show a wide range of phenotypic, biological, and clinical heterogeneity [3]. Tey occur in the major and minor salivary glands, whereof 80% of major salivary gland tumours are present in the parotid glands, and less than half of these tumours are malignant [3]. In general, several viruses have been demonstrated to be the trigger of neoplastic diseases of the head and neck, like human papillomavirus (HPV) [4] and diferent human herpes viruses, like human herpes virus-4/Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) [5], cytomegalovirus (CMV) [6], and human herpes virus 8 (HHV-8) [7]. However, the role of viruses in the gen- esis of salivary gland tumours remains still debatable. Te aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of diferent pathogens like HHV-8, EBV, and HPV in a large cohort of salivary gland tumours. Te involvement of these three pathogens was analyzed by immunohistochemistry, a specifc chip based hybridization assay, or chromogenic in situ hybridization. 2. Material and Methods 2.1. Patients. A total of 200 patients with salivary gland tumours were included, diagnosed between 1990 and 2014 (Table 1). Among those there were 93 malignant and 107 benign tumours of diferent entities (Table 2). Te formalin- fxed, parafn embedded specimens were retrieved from the archive of the Institute of Pathology at the University Medicine of Rostock. Te study was performed with internal review board approval and patients’ data were anonymized in accordance with German laws concerning safety data. 2.2. Clinical Data. Clinical data were obtained by reviewing the charts of the Clinical Cancer Registry, University of Rostock. Tese data were anonymized and included sex, age at diagnosis, and stage (Tables 1 and 2). Hindawi Publishing Corporation BioMed Research International Volume 2015, Article ID 829349, 7 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/829349