No Evidence of Human Papillomaviruses in Non-genital Seborrheic Keratosis

BACKGROUND: Seborrheic keratosis (SK) is a benign epidermal tumor of unknown etiology. Because of its wart-like morphology, Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) have been suggested as a possible causative agent. Viral involvement, however, has not been confirmed yet despite research and the association between HPVs and seborrheic keratosis has not been studied among Iranian population by PCR. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this case-control study was to evaluate the presence of HPVs DNA in non-genital SK by PCR. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty biopsy specimens obtained from patients with non-genital SK and 50 controls were analyzed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). RESULTS: No HPVs DNA was detected by PCR within the tissue extracts from paraffin-embedded SK samples, while one of the controls was HPVs DNA positive. The age range of the patients was 20 to 82 yrs (mean = 52). Twenty-eight patients (56%) were males and 22 patients (44%) were females. The most common anatomic site was the face. Histopathologic changes due to viral infection such as koilocytosis (10%), dyskeratosis (66%), mitosis (28%), and parakeratosis (88%) were evident within the lesions. The most common histologic type was acanthotic type. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that there is no association between HPVs and seborrheic keratosis in investigated subjects.