Investigation of the synergism between alcohol consumption and herpes simplex virus in patients with laryngeal squamous cell cancers

We investigated the synergism between alcohol consumption and herpes simplex virus (HSV) in the development of laryngeal squamous cell cancer and in the clinical course of this disease. HSV DNA was searched by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique in the fresh tumor tissues of 22 patients with laryngeal cancer without alcohol consumption (Group 1) and of 23 patients with chronic alcohol consumption (Group 2), and their HSV prevalences were compared. No statistically significant difference was detected between the two groups in terms of HSV incidence frequency (P > 0.05), but the risk of finding HSV in tumor tissue in patients with alcohol consumption history was 3.4-fold higher than in those without alcohol consumption history (OR = 3.378, 95% CI = 0.762–14.982). There were no statistically significant differences in terms of lymph node metastasis, tumor localization, tumor diameter, tumor stage and tumor differentiation between the patients in Group 1 and Group 2 (P > 0.05). Larger case series will further elucidate the role of HSV in the development of laryngeal cancer, the nature of its interactions with other carcinogens and its effect on the clinical course.