Nowadays, we know that 15% of all malignancies have association with viral infections; 80% of them are cervical carcinomas, provoked by human papillomavirus (HPV), and liver carcinomas. However, in the last years, many articles are revealing HPV types occurrence in specimens of carcinomas from esophagus, stomach, lung, breast and colon and rectum, which was denied by other authors. HPV DNA was found in 41.7 to 82.1% of colon carcinomas and in 28 to 56% of colon adenomas. Although viral DNA is integrated with tumoral DNA, the way of contamination is not evident. Hematogenic and lymphatic routes are not well defined. There is doubt concerning the specificity of the exams of viral detection and the ways of viral dissemination in proximal colonic segments. Anyway, literature is not sure to affirm if this virus could be causal agent of this kind of cancer, and more studies are necessary.
Key words: Papillomavirus infections; Colorectal carcinoma.
