Abstract:

Objective To develop a new nested PCR to detect human papillomavirus （HPV） DNA in lesions of extragenital Bowen′s disease. Methods DNA was extracted from the lesions of 41 patients with extragenital Bowen′s disease and subjected to the amplification of HPV by a nested PCR. Five primers, including CN1FR, CN2FR, CN3FR, CN4FR and CN5FR, were designed and used in the second round PCR. Results Based on the ClustalX analysis, 69 HPV subtypes, including mucosal types, cutaneous types and epidermodysplasia verruciformis-associated types, could be amplified by using the 5 designed primers. The detection limit varied from 10-3 to 10-2 copies of HPV DNA for this PCR. Of the 41 lesional specimens, 5 were positive for HPV DNA, including 3 cases of high-risk HPV types （2 cases of HPV 16, 1 case of HPV 33） and 2 cases of cutaneous HPV types （1 case of HPV 27 and 1 case of HPV 76）. Conclusions The improved nested PCR is highly sensitive and specific for the detection of HPV DNA in lesions of extragenital Bowen′s disease. The development of extragenital Bowen′s disease may be associated with the infection with high-risk mucosal HPV types in some patients.

Key words: Bowen’s disease