PREVALENCE OF HUMAN-PAPILLOMAVIRUS INFECTION IN PREMALIGNANT AND MALIGNANT LESIONS OF THE ORAL CAVITY IN UK SUBJECTS - A NOVEL METHOD OF DETECTION

To evaluate the possible role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in oral ne oplasms, 28 oral squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) and 12 potentially mal ignant lesions were analysed for the presence of HPV DNA. A nested pol ymerase chain reaction (PCR) approach, using two sets of HPV consensus primers to the L1 region, was used, which was able to detect a broad spectrum of HPV types. HPV DNA was detected in 14/28 (50%) carcinomas and 4/12 (33%) precancerous lesions. A novel approach based on labelli ng the PCR products with P-32 and the separation of radioactively labe lled products on an 8% polyacrylamide gel increased the sensitivity of the detection and enabled the identification of the HPV types. The ty ping of HPV was subsequently confirmed by direct DNA sequencing. HPV 6 and HPV 16 were the only HPV types detected and seven tumours harbour ed both types. Our results suggest that HPVs may be an important aetio logical factor in the development of oral cancer. The detection proced ure ensured sensitivity and consistency of the detection of low copy n umbers of the virus DNA. The presence of HPV in 33% of premalignant ti ssues suggests that HPV infection may be an early event in the maligna nt transformation of oral SCC. There was no statistically significant association between viral infection and tumour grade or stage. (C) 199 8 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.