In order to investigate whether previous findings of ubiquitous skin papillomavirus infection in Caucasians apply to populations from other parts of the world, skin swab samples from Bangladesh, Japan, Ethiopia and Zambia were analysed in parallel with Swedish samples. The prevalence of HPV DNA in the material from Bangladesh was 68 %, Japan 54 %, Ethiopia 52 %, Zambia 42 % and Sweden 70 %. A great multiplicity of genotypes was demonstrated by the finding of 88 HPV types or putative types in 142 HPV DNA-positive samples in total. Double or multiple genotypes were frequently found in the same sample. The most prevalent HPV type was HPV-5, with an overall prevalence of 6?5 %. This was also the only type that was found in samples from all of the countries in the study. The results presented show that commensal skin HPV infections have a worldwide distribution with a very broad spectrum of genotypes.

Cutaneous human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are frequently found in healthy skin and have also been implicated in non-melanoma skin cancer. For genital HPV types, a persistent infection with one of the high-risk types is a prerequisite for the development of cervical cancer. However, there is only limited data on whether infections with cutaneous HPV types persist over time. Serial forehead swab samples collected from 63 volunteers (42 healthy individuals and 31 renal transplant recipients (RTRs)), sampled 6.3 years (range: 5.0-7.0 years) apart, were analyzed for HPV using general primer PCR, cloning, and sequencing. Among the healthy individuals, the prevalences of HPV were 69% (29/42) at enrolment and 71% (30/42) at follow-up. Among the individuals positive at baseline, 48% (14/29) had a persistent infection. Among the RTRs, 71% (15/21) were positive for HPV at enrolment and 90% (19/21) at follow-up. A persistent infection was detected in 33% (5/15). In total, HPV was detected in 44 of the samples collected at baseline and the same virus was found at follow-up in 43% (19/44). Persistence was not significantly associated with age, sex, immunosuppressive treatment, history of warts, or genus of HPV. We conclude that cutaneous HPV infections commonly persist over several years on healthy skin.

Recent studies have suggested an association between human papillomaviruses (HPVs), particularly species 2 members of the genus Betapapillomavirus, and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the skin. As most of these viruses are uncharacterized, molecular characterization and epidemiology are needed to advance our understanding of their significance in carcinogenesis. This study determined the complete genomes of four betapapillomaviruses of species 2 from skin lesions designated , an isolate of an unpublished HPV type, and analysed their prevalence and viral loads in biopsies from SCC, actinic keratosis (AK), basal cell carcinoma, seborrhoeic keratosis and the healthy skin of 263 immunocompetent patients by HPV type-specific real-time PCR assays. Seventeen patients (6.5 %) harboured at least one of the four HPV types in their lesion, whereas seven patients (2.7 %) harboured one or more of the HPV types in healthy skin. Overall, the four viruses were more common in AK than in healthy skin (odds ratio 5.0, 95 % confidence interval 1.4-17.5), but the prevalence and viral loads were low. This characterization of expands the heterogeneity of members of species 2 of the genus Betapapillomavirus. However, as these types were found in only a few samples and in low amounts, a possible role in carcinogenesis remains elusive.

The human papillomaviruses (HPVs) exist as more than 100 distinct types. While variants of HPV are common, only few HPV subtypes have been reported. HPV type 38 has been proposed to be associated with nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC), with reported prevalences of up to 55%. A subtype of HPV38 was cloned, completely sequenced and found to have a 96% sequence similarity to prototype HPV38 in the L1 open reading frame. The presence of prototype HPV38 and HPV38b[FA125] was examined in paired biopsies of tape-stripped skin lesions and healthy skin from 269 immunocompetent patients by real-time PCR. Prototype HPV38 and HPV38b[FA125] were present in seven (3%) and five (2%) lesions, respectively, in viral loads ranging from one copy per 150 cells to one copy per 70,000 cells. In summary, we found that HPV38 is heterogeneous and is one of so far only few HPVs that contain subtypes. The heterogeneity needs to be considered in studies of the biology of this virus. ' 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Key words: HPV; subtype; nonmelanoma skin cancer; multiplyprimed rolling circle amplification Nonmelanoma skin cancers (NMSC) are the most prevalent malignancies in the Caucasian population 1 and an increase in prevalence has been seen in European countries during the last few years. 2 NMSC comprises basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). BCC has a relatively good prognosis, while SCC accounts for up to 20% of all deaths from skin cancer. 3 NMSC are often found on sun-exposed sites in patients with the rare inherited genetic disease epidermodysplasia verruciformis (EV). 4 These patients are highly susceptible to human papillomavirus (HPV) infections 5,6 mainly by the Beta-papillomaviruses, a phylogenetic subgroup of cutaneous HPVs (e.g., HPV5 and HPV8). 7 These HPV types are detectable in skin carcinomas, as well as in control specimens of healthy skin from the general population. [8][9][10][11][12] There are more than 100 different HPV types that have been completely sequenced. 7 In addition, there appears to exist about 100 additional putative HPV types, with sequence information so far available only from PCR amplimers. 8,[13][14][15][16] Variants of HPV types contain more than 98% sequence homology in the L1 open reading frame (ORF). 7 Variants is a common finding that appears to associate with ethnic groups and sometimes even with biologic behavior of the virus. 17,18 By contrast, subtypes containing 90-98% sequence homology in the L1 region are very rare, with HPV 68a/HPV68b, HPV46, HPV55 and HPV64 (now known to be subtypes, originally thought to be different viruses) being the only fully characterized examples. 7,17 Although the reasons for this are not known, existence of subtypes has profound implications for design of virus detection systems and for understanding of the biology of the viruses.Epidemiological studies have established a causal association between UV-radiation and NMSC, 3 but the role of HPV in these cancers remains to be elucidated.A recent study 19 has demonstrated that the early proteins E...

Two novel human papillomaviruses (HPVs), HPV93 and HPV96, with genomes of 7450 and 7438 bp, respectively, are described. The L1 open reading frame of HPV93 showed highest identity to HPV24 (79 %) and that of HPV96 had highest identity to HPV92 (71 %). Real-time PCR for HPV92, 93 and 96 on stripped biopsies from tumours and healthy skin from 269 immunocompetent patients found HPV DNA in 2.6 % of tumours and in 0.4 % of healthy skin samples. Double infections were observed in two tumours. HPV92 was detected in four, HPV93 in two and HPV96 in three tumours. The range of viral loads spanned from one copy per 45 cells to one copy per 10 000 cells. The E7 proteins of HPV92, 93 and 96 were found to bind the retinoblastoma protein (pRb). These results suggest a possible role for these HPV types in skin carcinogenesis that deserves further study.Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are epitheliotropic agents infecting both the genital tract and cutaneous tissue. High-risk types infecting the genital tract, e.g. HPV16, are recognized as important carcinogens (zur Hausen, 1996). HPV types infecting cutaneous tissue are the focus of investigation as possible carcinogenic agents of nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC). The NMSCs basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) are the most frequently occurring malignancies in Caucasian populations (Kiviat, 1999). Exposure to UV radiation is the major risk factor for development of NMSC, but increased risk is also observed among those with immunosuppressive treatment and fair skin type (Alam & Ratner, 2001). Cutaneous HPV infection is associated with NMSC in patients with the rare, hereditary disease epidermodysplasia verruciformis (EV) (Majewski & Jablonska, 1995;Orth, 1986) and about 20 distinct HPV types are found in lesions of these patients (Pfister & Ter Schegget, 1997). These HPV types can also be detected in lesions of immunocompetent patients as well as in healthy skin, making it difficult to assess the pathological significance of these viruses (Antonsson et al., 2000). However, HPV has been proposed as a co-factor for UV radiation in the development of NMSC (Akgul et al., 2006;Harwood et al., 1999).To date, over 100 HPV types have been characterized, but recently, a sensitive method, FAP PCR (Forslund et al., 1999), has detected about 130 additional putative cutaneous HPV types (Antonsson et al., 2000(Antonsson et al., , 2003aAntonsson & Hansson, 2002; Forslund et al., 1999 Forslund et al., , 2003bForslund et al., , 2004. Except for HPV92 (Forslund et al., 2003a), only subgenomic sequences are known of these putative HPV types. In this study, the complete genome sequences of two novel types, HPV93 and HPV96, were obtained by generating overlapping amplicons. HPV93 was described previously as FAIMVS6, originally identified in an actinic keratosis (AK) on the dorsum of the hand of an immunocompetent 82-year-old male (Forslund et al., 2003b). HPV96 was described previously as FA47 (Antonsson et al., 2003b) and was, in the current study, detected in a SCC in situ on...