Incidence of betapapillomaviruses in the tumour and perilesional healthy skin in patients with basal cell carcinoma depending on sex, age, hair colour, tumour subtype, its location and dissemination

INTRODUCTION: Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common skin cancer in the Caucasian population. It is believed that infections caused by viruses from the genus betapapillomavirus (β-HPV) might be associated with the risk of BCC, but the spread of data on the prevalence of the virus in biopsies is significant. AIM: To assess the presence and diversity of β-HPV in skin samples taken from the tumour and a fragment of healthy skin from the patients with BCC, as well as checking the correlation of factors listed below and presence of β-HPV infection in the studied patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was conducted on the skin biopsies from 73 patients with histopathologically confirmed BCC. The following data were collected from patients: sex, age, hair colour and tumour location. Using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, the presence of β-HPV infection was detected in the tested samples. PCR and reverse hybridization assay were also used to genotype 25 types of β-HPV. RESULTS: A statistically significant correlation was found between the sex and BCC type, BCC type and tumour location, BCC type and exposure to UV radiation, as well as between the hair colour and tumour location. The correlation between the BCC type and the number of tumours and HPV types detected was also noted. CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary studies suggest that one of the risk factors for development of infiltrating lesions is the presence of a single HPV 93 infection, but further research is needed to confirm these assumptions.