Marjana Knezevic
University of Pennsylvania, USA
Title: Human papillomaviruses in lesions of the oral mucosa
Biography
Biography: Marjana Knezevic
Abstract
Human papillomavirus (HPV) are considered to initiate epithelial proliferation and contribute in the development of benign, premalignant and malignant oral lesions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency of HPV in morphologically different oral lesions and determine the frequency of some types of HPV and their relationship with certain damage of oral cavity. The study included 120 subjects with different lesions of oral cavity (keratotic lesions, hyperplastic lesions, and erosive-ulcerative lesions). Oral specimens were collected with cytobrush. HPV DNA was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. The presence of HPV DNA was detected in (28/120) 23.3% oral samples. HPV DNA was identified in veruca (40%), papilloma (31.8%), papilomatosis of palate (30%), lichen planus (20%), leukoplakia (19%), and erosive-ulcerative lesions (19.2%). In patients with hyperkeratotic and hyperplastic lesions of the mucosa of the oral cavity, the most frequent type was the unspecified type of HPV (10.6%) while high-risk HPV types were more frequent in patients with erosive-ulcereous lesions of the oral cavity. The most frequent types were HPV 16 (15.4%), followed by HPV 18 (11.5%) and HPV 31 (7.7%). HPV 33 was rarely found (3.8%) in oral lesions. HPV is probably associated with the development of hyperkeratotic and hyperplastic oral lesions. Additionally, there are some less frequent types of HPV, which influence the development of hyperkeratotic and hyperplastic lesions of the oral cavity and damaged oral mucosa increases the risk of HPV infection.