Human papillomavirus infection in squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva, in various synchronous epithelial changes and in normal vulvar skin.

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in various vulvar lesions.

Methods: HPV infection using consensus primer-PCR was studied in 66 patients with vulvar carcinoma and in the synchronous epithelial lesions.

Results: HPV infection was present in 13/66 carcinoma, in 1/33 VIN I, in 3/11 VIN II, in 8/16 VIN III, in 2/30 lichen sclerosus, in 1/37 squamous cell hyperplasia, and in 2/55 normal skin specimens. Normal skin from healthy controls showed HPV-negative specimens only. Patients with HPV-positive carcinomas were younger, presented in lower stages, and had high-grade VIN more often than those with HPV-negative carcinomas.

Conclusions: In sum we found that all types of epithelial changes synchronous with carcinoma of the vulva showed HPV infection, indicating that they all might have malignant potential.