Abstract:

Objective To study the possible relationship between human papillomaviruse (HPV) infection and external genital proliferative diseases. Methods HPV DNA was detected using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with a consensus primer and typed by using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method in 151 paraffin-embedded biopsy specimens from seven kinds of external genital epidermal proliferative lesions. Results In 30 cases of condyloma acuminatum, HPV DNA was positive for all cases, among which HPV6 and HPV11 accounted for 60% and 26.7%, respectively. In 40 cases of bowenoid papulosis, 5 cases of genital Bowen's disease and 6 cases of erythroplasia of Queyrat, the positive rates of HPV DNA were 55%, 100% and 33.3%, respectively, and the predominant type was HPV16. In 18 cases of external genital invasive squamous cell carcinoma HPV DNA positive rate was 27.8%, and HPV16 was detected in all of the 5 HPV-positive cases. HPV DNA was negative in 32 cases of leukoplakia and 20 cases of extramammary Paget's disease. Conclusions Condyloma acuminatum is mainly caused by HPV6 infection, followed by HPV11; HPV16 infection is closely associated with the pathogenesis of bowenoid papulosis and external genital squmous cell carcinoma including Bowen's disease and erythroplasia of Queyrat. In external genital invasive squamous cell carcinoma, HPV16 infection may be one of the multiple carcinogenic factors. No clear relationship is found between HPV infection and leukoplakia or extramammary Paget's disease.

Key words: Papillomavirus, human, Condylomata acuminata, Carcinoma, squamous cell, Precancerous conditions, Paget’s disease, extramamary