HPV appears to play an etiologic role in many cancers of the oropharynx and possibly a small subgroup of cancers of the oral cavity. The most common HPV type in genital cancers (HPV16) was also the most common in these tumors. The mechanism of transmission of HPV to the oral cavity warrants further investigation.

The natural history of infections with many human papillomavirus (HPV) types is poorly understood. Here, we describe for the first time the age- and sex-dependent antibody prevalence for 29 cutaneous and five mucosal HPV types from 15 species within five phylogenetic genera (alpha, beta, gamma, mu, nu) in a general population. Sera from 1,797 German adults and children (758 males and 1,039 females) between 1 and 82 years (median 37 years) were analysed for antibodies to the major capsid protein L1 by Luminex-based multiplex serology. The first substantial HPV antibody reactions observed already in children and young adults are those to cutaneous types of the genera nu (HPV 41) and mu (HPV 1, 63). The antibody prevalence to mucosal high-risk types, most prominently HPV 16, was elevated after puberty in women but not in men and peaked between 25 and 34 years. Antibodies to beta and gamma papillomaviruses (PV) were rare in children and increased homogeneously with age, with prevalence peaks at 40 and 60 years in women and 50 and 70 years in men. Antibodies to cutaneous alpha PV showed a heterogeneous age distribution. In summary, these data suggest three major seroprevalence patterns for HPV of phylogenetically distinct genera: antibodies to mu and nu skin PV appear early in life, those to mucosal alpha PV in women after puberty, and antibodies to beta as well as to gamma skin PV accumulate later in life.

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Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) may develop a highly malignant phenotype in its late phase, and patients may profit from innovative therapies. The plant extract indirubin and its chemical derivatives represent new and promising antitumor strategies. This first report on the effects of an indirubin derivative in CTCL cells shows a strong decrease of cell proliferation and cell viability as well as an induction of apoptosis, suggesting indirubin derivatives for therapy of CTCL. As concerning the mode of activity, the indirubin derivative DKP-071 activated the extrinsic apoptosis cascade via caspase-8 and caspase-3 through downregulation of the caspase antagonistic proteins c-FLIP and XIAP. Importantly, a strong increase of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was observed as an immediate early effect in response to DKP-071 treatment. The use of antioxidative pre-treatment proved the decisive role of ROS, which turned out upstream of all other proapoptotic effects monitored. Thus, reactive oxygen species appear as a highly active proapoptotic pathway in CTCL, which may be promising for therapeutic intervention. This pathway can be efficiently activated by an indirubin derivative.