Human papillomavirus infection in squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva, in various synchronous epithelial changes and in normal vulvar skin.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in various vulvar lesions.

METHODS

HPV infection using consensus primer-PCR was studied in 66 patients with vulvar carcinoma and in the synchronous epithelial lesions.

RESULTS

HPV infection was present in 13/66 carcinoma, in 1/33 VIN I, in 3/11 VIN II, in 8/16 VIN III, in 2/30 lichen sclerosus, in 1/37 squamous cell hyperplasia, and in 2/55 normal skin specimens. Normal skin from healthy controls showed HPV-negative specimens only. Patients with HPV-positive carcinomas were younger, presented in lower stages, and had high-grade VIN more often than those with HPV-negative carcinomas.

CONCLUSIONS

In sum we found that all types of epithelial changes synchronous with carcinoma of the vulva showed HPV infection, indicating that they all might have malignant potential.