Human papillomavirus DNA in non-melanoma skin cancers of a renal transplant recipient: detection of a new sequence related to epidermodysplasia verruciformis associated types.

The detection of human papillomavirus (HPV) types originally isolated from patients with epidermodysplasia verruciformis (EV) in skin tumors of transplant recipients may point to a role of this HPV subgroup in non-melanoma skin cancer in immunosuppressed people. We analyzed 17 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded biopsies of benign or malignant skin tumors of a renal transplant patient with unusually widespread cutaneous carcinomas. Using a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR), HPV-specific DNA was demonstrated in 11 specimens (65%). Analysis of nine PCR amplification products revealed four different sequences related to EV-associated HPVs. Three sequences occurred only in one lesion. In six samples identical sequences were found that differed from all HPV sequences published to date and may therefore represent a novel EV-HPV type, preliminarily labeled RTRX7. RTRX7 was found in benign, premalignant, and malignant skin lesions. Alignments identified HPV12 as the closest relative of RTRX7, both in the DNA (81% homology) and in the amino acid sequence (84% homology).