Oncogenic mucosal human papillomaviruses in Bowen's disease of the hands.

Introduction. The association between genital Bowen Disease (BD) and human papillomavirus (HPV) especially HPV-16 infection is well known, but it is m ore rarely related to extragenital ED. The aim of this study was to detect the presence of oncogenic HPV infection in the ED of the hands considering the histology and the presence of oncogenic HPV detected by in situ hybridi zation (ISH) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Material and methods. Eleven formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded samples o f ED of the hands were selected. We looked for koilocytosis using standard histological procedure. ISH was performed using genomic HPV DNA probes type s 16, 18 and 33 labeled with digoxigenin. Next, with a new amplification sy stem using biotinyled tyramide (Kit Dako Cen Point K620) was used to detect hybrids. Otherwise, Baay's HPV type specific primers (type 16, rs, 31 et 3 3) were chosen for PCR. Results, Koilocytosis were observed in all cutaneous samples. HPV16 was det ected in 9/11 cases (82 p. 100): 2/10 with ISH and 9/11 with PCR. Discussion. We report here the largest series of BD of the hands, associate d with HPV type 16 infection. This high rate (82 p. too) compared to the ot her series is linked to the high sensitivity of PCR and is increased by the choice of Baay's oligonucleotide primers. Besides, the low HPV rate (2/10) by ISH, is similar to those obtained in the other series. Although ISH is less sensitive than PCR, the morphological study was useful to argue the pa thogenicity of HPV. Finally, the high prevalence of genital oncogenic HPV o n the hands, plaid in the scratching hypothesis resulting in autoinoculatio n from HPV lesions in the genital region.