Human Papilloma Virus load in eyebrow hair follicles and risk of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma
Menée en Italie et en Australie auprès de 627 cas et de 782 témoins, cette étude analyse l'association entre la charge virale de papillomavirus humain de type bêta, mesurée dans des follicules pileux des sourcils, et le risque de carcinome épidermoïde de la peau
Background: Beta HPV (betaPV) may play a role in the development of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). However betaPV is highly prevalent, and it may only be people with a higher viral load that have increased risk of SCC. We therefore examined the association between betaPV load and SCC. Methods: We recruited 448 immunocompetent cases with SCC and 464 controls from Italy and Australia, and 497 immunosuppressed organ transplant recipients (OTR) (179 cases and 318 controls) from Europe. We used reverse hybridization to genotype 25 betaPV types in eyebrow hair follicles, and determined the viral load for 8 selected types using quantitative PCR. We used logistic regression to assess associations between type-specific and cumulative viral load and SCC. Results: Australian and OTR participants in the highest cumulative load tertile were at significantly higher risk of SCC than those in the lowest tertile. Those with more than 4 betaPV types in the high load tertile were at approximately three-fold increased risk of SCC. In Australia HPV23 and 36 loads were significantly associated with SCC, with borderline associations for HPV5 and 38. In OTR HPV8 and 38 loads were significantly associated and HPV20 and 36 were borderline. We found little evidence for an association between load and SCC in Italy. Conclusions: High viral load may be associated with risk of cutaneous SCC, with total load seemingly more important than the load of any specific type. Impact: Our findings lend weight to the hypothesis that HPV plays a role in skin carcinogenesis.