PREVALENCE OF HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS TYPE-16 AND TYPE-18 IN PENILE CARCINOMA - A STUDY OF 41 CASES USING PCR

Aims-To determine retrospectively the prevalence of human papillomavir us (HPV) types 16 and 18 in penile carcinomas. Methods-Forty one surgi cally resected penile carcinomas from the archives at Queen Mary Hospi tal, Hong Kong, were reviewed and classified into verrucous carcinoma, and well, moderately, and poorly differentiated squamous cell carcino mas. Paraffin wax embedded tumour tissue was sectioned and analysed fo r HPV 16 and HPV 18 using the polymerase chain reaction with type spec ific internal probes. Results-There were seven verrucous carcinomas, a nd 11 well, 17 moderately, and six poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinomas. Six of the 41 (15%) patients had penile carcinoma contain ing HPV 16 or HPV 18 DNA, or both, with HPV 16 found in four (10%) and HPV 18 in four (10%). The mean ages of HPV positive and HPV negative groups of patients were 68.5 and 57.6 years, respectively (p <0.05). N one of the seven verrucous and 11 well differentiated squamous cell ca rcinomas was positive for HPV. The mean age of patients who had these carcinomas was 52.4 years. As a group, these low grade carcinomas occu rred in patients younger by more than a decade than those who had carc inomas of the higher grades (mean age 64.4 years; p <0.01). Conclusion s-Penile carcinomas had much lower rates of infection by HPV 16 or HPV 18 than cervical carcinomas in this Hong Kong population. Based on ou r findings and on data collated from published findings, it is conclud ed that penile verrucous carcinomas are not associated with HPV 16 and HPV 18. The overall low prevalence of HPV 16 and HPV 18 in penile car cinomas suggests that other HPV types might be important in the pathog enesis of these tumours.