A Comparative Study of Intralesional Vitamin D3, Measles Mumps Rubella Vaccine, and Tuberculin Purified Protein Derivative in the Treatment of Recalcitrant Warts: An Approach to Solve a Therapeutic Conundrum.

BACKGROUND

Human papilloma virus infects and proliferates in skin or mucosal cells to cause warts. Most of the current therapeutic modalities are ablative, act only on treated lesions, and lack a well-defined treatment endpoint. These being blind procedures, recurrence rates are high, owing to the remnant virus. Intralesional immunotherapy plays a significant role, as it potentially acts on treated and distant lesions.

OBJECTIVES

We sought to study and compare the efficacy, safety profile, and recurrence rates of intralesional immunotherapy modalities (vitamin D3; measles, mumps, and rubella [MMR] vaccine; and tuberculin purified protein derivative [PPD]) in treating viral warts.

METHODS

An open-label interventional study of 60 cases of cutaneous viral warts was performed in a tertiary care center attached to a medical college after obtaining approval from the institutional ethics committee. Each patient was consecutively assigned into Group 1 (vitamin D3: 0.2mL of 15mg/mL), Group 2 (MMR: 0.5mL), or Group 3 (tuberculin PPD: 0.1mL of 10TU). One or two warts were injected per session every two weeks. Response was assessed. Adverse effects were noted. Cases were followed up monthly for three months.

RESULTS

The MMR group had the maximum patients with complete response (15 of 20, 75%) followed by tuberculin PPD group (13 of 20, 65%) and vitamin D3 group (12 of 20, 60%). No major adverse drug reactions were reported in any of the groups.

CONCLUSION

Immunotherapy offers a safe and promising approach in patients with extensive cutaneous viral warts in difficult to treat sites.