The oral cavity contains abundant known and novel human papillomaviruses from the Betapapillomavirus and Gammapapillomavirus genera

Abstract

Background: Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) primarily sort into 3 genera: Alphapapillomavirus (α-HPV), predominantly isolated from mucosa, and Betapapillomavirus (β-HPV) and Gammapapillomavirus (γ-HPV), predominantly isolated from skin. HPV types might infect body sites that are different from those from which they were originally isolated.

Methods: We investigated the spectrum of HPV type distribution in oral rinse samples from 2 populations: 52 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive men and women and 317 men who provided a sample for genomic DNA for a prostate cancer study. HPV types were detected with the MY09/MY11 and FAP59/64 primer systems and identified by dot blot hybridization and/or direct sequencing.

Results: Oral rinse specimens from 35 (67%) of 52 HIV-positive individuals and 117 (37%) of 317 older male participants tested positive for HPV DNA. We found 117 type-specific HPV infections from the HIV-positive individuals, including 73 α-HPV, 33 β-HPV, and 11 γ-HPV infections; whereas, the distribution was 46 α-HPV, 108 β-HPV, and 14 γ-HPV infections from 168 type-specific infections from the 317 male participants.

Conclusions: The oral cavity contains a wide spectrum of HPV types predominantly from the β-HPV and γ-HPV genera, which were previously considered to be cutaneous types. These results could have significant implications for understanding the biology of HPV and the epidemiological associations of HPV with oral and skin neoplasia.

Figure 1.

Prevalence of individual human papillomavirus (HPV) type infections in oral and cervical sites. The y-axis represents numbers of infections of each type. A2, degenerated FAP probe for HPV types 3, 10, 28, and 77; A3, mixed FAP probes for HPV types 61, 62, 71, 72, 84, 86, 87, 89, 90, 102, and 106; A5/6, mixed FAP probes for HPV types 26, 51, 53, 56, 66, 69, and 82; A7, mixed FAP probes for HPV types 18, 39, 45, 59, 70, 85, and 97; A8, mixed FAP probes for HPV types 7, 40, 43, and 91; A9, mixed FAP probes for HPV types 31, 33, 35, 52, and 67; B1, degenerated FAP probe for HPV types 19, 21, 24, 25, and 93; B2, degenerated FAP probe for HPV types 15, 17, 22, 23, and 38; Ga, degenerated FAP probe for HPV types 48, 50, 60, and 65; HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; HIV+, HIV-positive participants; HIV−, HIV-negative participants.