Viral load and Integration status of High-Risk Human Papillomaviruses in the Barrett's metaplasia–dysplasia–adenocarcinoma sequence

Recently, we demonstrated a strong association of transcriptionally active high-risk human papillomavirus (hr-HPV) with Barrett ’ s dysplasia (BD) and esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) (1). To further clarify the role of hr-HPV infection in the Barrett ’ s metaplasia – dysplasia – adenocarcinoma sequence, esophageal specimens positive for hr-HPV-16 or hr-HPV-18 DNA obtained from 83 patients (mostly recruited from our previous study) (1) were utilized to assess viral load and integration status.