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. 2010 Jul 8:341:c2986.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.c2986.

Genus beta human papillomaviruses and incidence of basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas of skin: population based case-control study

Margaret R Karagas  1 , Tim Waterboer, Zhongze Li, Heather H Nelson, Kristina M Michael, Jan Nico Bouwes Bavinck, Ann E Perry, Steven K Spencer, Janet Daling, Adele C Green, Michael Pawlita; New Hampshire Skin Cancer Study Group
Collaborators, Affiliations

Genus beta human papillomaviruses and incidence of basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas of skin: population based case-control study

Margaret R Karagas et al. BMJ. .

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the association between genus beta human papillomaviruses and the incidence of non-melanocytic skin cancer in the general population.

Design: Population based case-control study.

Setting: New Hampshire, USA.

Participants: 2366 skin cancer cases and controls from the general population aged 25 to 74 years (663 squamous cell carcinoma, 898 basal cell carcinoma, 805 controls), with plasma samples tested for L1 antibodies to 16 genus beta human papillomaviruses by multiplex serology.

Main outcome measures: Odds ratios for squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma associated with seropositivity to beta human papillomaviruses.

Results: Squamous cell carcinoma, but not basal cell carcinoma, cases had a higher prevalence of each of the individual beta human papillomaviruses assayed compared with controls. The odds ratios for squamous cell carcinoma increased with the number of beta types positive (odds ratio for one type positive 0.99 (95% confidence interval 0.74 to 1.33); two to three types positive 1.44 (1.03 to 2.01); four to eight types positive 1.51 (1.03 to 2.20); more than eight types positive 1.71 (1.12 to 2.62); P for trend (categorical)<0.001; P for trend (continuous)=0.003). With limited statistical power, the association was stronger among long term users of systemic glucocorticoids (odds ratio 3.21, 1.22 to 8.44) than among non-users (1.23, 0.97 to 1.55).

Conclusions: These findings support a relation between genus beta human papillomavirus infection and the incidence of squamous cell carcinoma of the skin in the general population, as well as potential enhancement of risk by immunosuppression.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: All authors have completed the Unified Competing Interest form at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf (available on request from the corresponding author) and declare (1) no support from any company for the submitted work; (2) no relationships with any companies that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous 3 years; (3) their spouses, partners, or children have no financial relationships that may be relevant to the submitted work; and (4) no non-financial interests that may be relevant to the submitted work.

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