Well, I have always wondered about this myself. If HPV16 can cause cervical, anal and oral cancer why not prostate cancer as well?
The problem is that the presence of HPV DNA in the prostate does NOT indicate causation for cancer….merely correlation or association.
They have never - to my knowledge - done screening in which every biopsy also tested for the presence of HPV. If they did they could then compare the Gleason scores to see if higher scores were gotten in those samples containing HPV. That would be a good starting point, at least.
But whether or not you have HPV (I assume you do because your late wife did) doesn’t change the next steps in diagnosis, nor does it portend a poorer outcome if it turns out that you do have cancer.
Remember, not all HPV infections lead to cancer - tens of millions of people globally are positive for HPV, but only a small percentage get cancer. Best
Phil